Is it already seven years? Seven years since I sat in an office in Greenwich Village and looked up from my work to wonder at all the sirens I was hearing. Seven years since my uncle – then younger than I am today – called his wife from his office in the WTC to say a plane had hit the other tower, but that they had been told not to evacuate. Seven years since he and my friend Clarin and my friend Nancy’s brother and my law school classmate Chris and and so many others lost thier lives. Seven years since my nephew stood at his classroom window and my cousin stood in a doorway (having himself just gotten out of one of the towers), each watching bodies fall from the roof to the street.
Seven years and I can still close my eyes and remember standing in the long line outside the Armory in Manhattan to register my uncle among the missing persons. And still see in my mind the white ash that covered the fire trucks at the fire station down the street from Penn Station. And still taste the fear as I took the train in and out of Manhattan in the ensuing days, wondering if an explosion would prevent me from making home to my young daughter and my husband. And still feel the pain I experienced every time I looked at the flyers put up by hopeful people who thought someone, anyone, might somewhere, anywhere have seen their missing loved ones. I can still feel and see all of these things as though it were yesterday and I wonder sometimes, if it will ever seem a distant memory.
Yet, seven years have passed. My uncle’s son has married and recently had his first child. Many who lost spouses have fallen in love again and married. In many and different ways, those affected have moved on with their lives.
Even so, there are still moments when the grief rises up. Moments, especially on a day like today, when the feelings overwhelm. And I don’t know what to do in those moments except to pray. To pray that we will one day learn to resolve our differences without bullets and bombs and without flying planes into buildings. To pray for peace – peace in our hearts…peace in our minds….peace in the world.
Creo en Dios! 