The twin towers officially opened on April 4, 1973, my 18th birthday. Because of that, I decided we were triplets. My family lived in NJ in a bedroom community about 60 minutes from NYC and I spent a lot of time in the city. I remember standing in front of the towers and looking up and not being able to see the top of the buildings. I remember sitting in Windows on the World and being able to feel the tower sway, ever so lightly, but still feel-able. I remember one beautiful fall evening being in Windows on the World and seeing the most amazing sunset. The sky was so clear that night I swear you could see 1000 miles in the distance.
If anyone had ever told me that the towers would come down, much less in my lifetime, I would have thought, "what an idiot." Of course, that was before September 11, 2001, the day this world (not just this country) changed forever. Summit, the small town in NJ where I lived, lost several good people on September 11, 2001.
My husband and I were on vacation. We had arrived in Bermuda on Sept. 10. That morning, I headed off for an indulgent hour at the spa. On the way back, an employee of the small hotel where we were staying stopped me and told me a plane had hit one of the towers. I headed for my room and found my husband watching TV. He had seen the second plane hit. As the minutes progressed we learned of the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of flight 93 and the day became surreal, like a movie, not real life.
That night, for the first time in my life, I questioned God about life's injustices on this planet. But I realized it was a miracle so many had been spared on that horrific day. Just a few hours later, there would have been close to 50,000 people in those towers, going about their daily business.
We were on the first flight out of Bermuda once air traffic resumed the following Saturday. During our layover in Philadelphia, a pilot told us he had seen the smoke trail high in the sky from the still-smoldering destruction while flying many, many miles from the site. I'm glad I didn't. I'll never forget how sad it was to come home and see every American flag flying at half-staff.
When I think of those who survived and those who didn't and all the stories, it still brings tears to my eyes. I went to visit my daughter in NJ in October 2001 and we went to NYC as we had planned before September 11, but nowhere near ground zero. I don't think I ever will.
Thank you for 'listening'.
Claire Wynnemer