Thank you, Gloria, Carol, Joy and Tony. It is a day that I will never forget. Though we live across the US in California, we were in NYC to see the US Open Tennis finals and then take a New England Cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary, my son's birthday and his graduation from high school. We left NYC on September 9th and saw the twin towers fade into the distance. My son had wanted to go to the top of the Twin Towers but we spent too much time at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and had to rush out to the tennis. I said next time...I learned that there may not be a next time...so do what is possible TODAY! We learned about the towers when we landed in Nova Scotia. We were on a cruise with a majority of tourists from New York and New Jersey. It was heart wrenching and tragic and unbelievable. Airports were closed and you were not allowed to leave the ship. They did allow free phone calls. We carried on but we had extra security when leaving or boarding the ship and had to sail back down to Boston because the New York port was a morgue. We were bussed back to NY. Then flew home on a plane leaving from New York to San Francisco, like what the terrorist had chosen to use as a tool of destruction. It was all scary and too close for comfort, especially if we had made plans a week earlier. @seattlite@carolmw@joysfocus@tonygig
It was surreal to be floating in the ocean isolated while all of this was going on in the US. It was crazy. We had TV coverage all day but it was also nice to distract ourselves with activities. No one was smiling though and the joy was sucked out of our sails. On the other hand, they say its good to count your blessings and be happy but you don't want to disrespect others who may be mourning either. I still can't believe it even happened...such an unnecessary tragedy. @lynnz@taffy@brett101
Dear CC, thank you for sharing your story. I was living in Orange County, Calif. at the time, and watching the horror on the morning news. Thank God you and your family were kept safe. So tragic and heart wrenching.
@gardenfolk "I liked this photo because the tear duct looked like a tear to me and appropriate for today's memories." That's exactly what it looked like to me, too.
Thank you Elyse. I bought a bracelet at the memorial with the quote on it. @kchuk
Thank you very much, Joe. @cirasj
@seattlite @carolmw @joysfocus @tonygig