Stepping on the bus this morning, I asked the bus driver, "What do you think, Lincoln Tunnel gonna be packed?"
"I'm not sure, man, we haven't been through yet. But who knows, it's 9/11, anything can happen."
And that last phrase,"anything can happen," stuck with me for a few minutes.
We as Americans, even after eleven years, still remain sensitive, and yet mourn the loss that occurred more than a decade ago.
In a lot of ways, we've been conditioned, we know anything can happen, because it did happen, and especially today, on the eleventh anniversary, for a lot of us today is when 9/11 feels like yesterday.
What follows are eleven portraits; eleven people and their stories. Young, old, local or out of town, 9/11 touched all of us, and today we remember.
Susan Ballestero's sister, Loretta Anne Vero, was in Tower 1
"She was on the 94th floor, so we knew, we knew there was no way to get out of there. There was still hope though, even though we knew it was improbable. We thought maybe she was in the hospital. We had two detectives assigned to us, and on our own we called all the hospitals. We never heard word back from anyone."
They never found Loretta's remains. It was like she just ceased to exist. Susan said it took about 4 years for her to get over the ordeal. To be honest she looked like she was still in shock. This was her first time to the site of the memorials, and she came because her husband was reading the "B" names. They also got to do a personal dedication for Loretta.
"It took me about four years to come to terms with it," she said. Having no remains, no finality or closure, just made things worse for Susan. I didn't ask her how long it took to finally stop calling the hospitals, but something tells me it took a while.
Army Specialist Christian Mason was in the 4th grade when the towers came down
Christian told me that he enlisted to fight, though he was just a child when 9/11 happened, the memory stuck with him.
"By the time I was 17, I was down at the recruiting station."
He went for the Marines, then the Army, but the wait list was too long, so he joined the National Guard.
"I've really wanted to go overseas, but I haven't gotten the opportunity. I just wanted to serve the country. When I tried the active services, they told me I would have to wait 8 months. I didn't want to wait. I signed with the National Guard that same day."
Christian is a Military Policeman, part of the "field MPs," guys responsible for base and convoy security.
Doug Doughty and his fellow firefighters are not from NYC, but still they come every year
"We come down and visit some of the guys at the Wall Street Fire Department," he tells me, showing me his shirt. "They gave us unit shirts, because we came up with some big paintings of their (Engine and Ladder insignia)."
He and his colleagues—Dave Mazurek and two sons Leighton and Brian, and also Bob Beverage ("Like the Drink")—come down every year bearing gifts for the local fire departments here.
"We work up in Plainview, Connecticut, but we still want to show our support."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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