Remembering 09.11.01

On September 11, 2001 I was a fourth grader at Saint Ignatius Loyola Catholic School on the Upper East Side. I can picture very little from when I was that young, but I remember the class room. I remember my teachers looking panicked and confused as we were all (K-8th grade) hustled into our church building. I remember making a joke to my classmates when they announced about the first plane hitting tower one. “What kind of idiot flies a plane into a building,” I remarked to a classmate. I remember the sound of muffled laughter in the pews around me. Before you judge too harshly, remember I was in fourth grade. The gravity of the situation did not occur to us until the news of the second plane crash, and then another one. The attitude of the whole church shifted. I could see the dots connect in the minds of my peers as well as in my own. What if my parents were there? Who do I know that works or lives around there? No one really had cellphones, and the only new information we had was from the television. I never admitted this to my dad, but I was petrified because I vaguely remembered him saying something about him and his law partners doing work there. I remember thinking, “ I’m already adopted, please don’t let me lose a parent.” I was lucky. I remember watching as kids waited for their parents to come. The longer you had to wait, the more the anxiety kicked in. Ill never forget the look on people’s faces. I’ll never forget the screams of children who just discovered his/her mom or dad won’t be coming home. I’ll never forget finally walking home with my mom and seeing the black ashes falling out of the sky from miles away. I’ll never forget the smell or the taste of the burning towers. I knew I was smelling death. I remember how kind everyone was after. New York put away its “get outta here” attitude, and we all felt a mutual compassion that we had yet to experience before. I’ll never forget anything about that day. New York is a part of who I am. This heart rate monitor tattoo represents the skyline that I will always remember. P.S. Turns out my dads business partner was suppose to go to the towers that day. He missed his train, and decided to stay home.