9/11 Memorial Museum

August 2001: I will never forget standing at the top of the World Trade Center. My mother whisked me off to New York City for a mother-daughter trip to celebrate graduating high school. This is when I fell madly in love with NYC. Atop the highest observation deck in the world, my strongest memory is the power of the wind!

One month later, it would be gone.

This evening I revisited the 9/11 Memorial. It's been a few years since I walked around that beautiful tribute. An offer to concierges for free tickets to the museum found it's way to my inbox, so I jumped on that one. The museum opened in May this year & is a mere 15 minute walk from The Greenwich.

I could sit at the memorial site all day. The two enormous footprints from the North and South towers with the cascading water produces such a sense of peace. As you enter the museum, a long staircase descends into the heart of the space. Some iconic images and remnants from that day greet you and set the tone for museum. Next was a little history helps you appreciate what the World Trade Center was for lower Manhattan. Did you know it had it's own zip code?

We made our way through what I'm going to call the cube of faces. All the victims from the attacks line the walls of this square space. Pictures ranging from wedding day photos to super grainy web images. Some had none at all. Looking at all these faces initially felt distant and general. But the longer we stayed in there and really looked at their eyes and their expression, my eyes go a bit misty. We could only get through halfway before my friend and I decided we needed to move on before both bursting into tears.

Then, I stopped cold in my tracks. We entered the historical portion of the actual day. A webcam had caught the first plane crashing into the WTC. I haven't seen any footage from September 11th in years and I could not move. The memory of that whole day came rushing back and I started to feel a weight on my chest and lump in my throat.

I did a pretty good job holding myself together watching the news cast from Sept. 11th and remembering how everyone thought it was an accident at first. Hearing phone calls of people from the other tower talking to significant others about how they were ok. But then I stumbled upon this tiny alcove with a few quotes on the wall and a few images. It was about the people who decided to jump. It was so heartbreaking.

The portion devoted to Flight 93 is very honoring and very moving.

The most surreal moment happened as I watched footage of the South Tower collapsing as I stood on the site where it fell. That brought the whole event to an incredible deep place. Tears flowed freely as I stood there alone watching the footage loop through the 10 seconds it took to collapse.

I moved through the rest of the museum in a silent dreamlike state and ultimately finding myself walking into a cool summer night next to the footprints of the towers again. Truly a gorgeous memorial and remind me of a time when everyone was so desperate to help. Not just in New York, although New York bolted into action, but all over our country. I remember the night of September 11th, 2001 gathering at an upper classman's dorm as a basketball team and just being together. No one did anything that whole day except be with each other. Nice to be reminded.