A Timely Visit to the 9/11 Memorial

We were at Ground Zero two days ago. It was humbling to be there at all but especially so close to the 9/11 anniversary.

Where were you when the world stopped turning 24 years ago? I was at work in a building not far from the White House, one of the potential targets of the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania. It was surreal walking home that afternoon in a mostly empty city patrolled by military vehicles and personnel.

Our son was about to turn 2. He remembers nothing about that day, but it will forever be one of the defining historical moments of my lifetime.

This week it was surreal seeing the pools where the Twin Towers once stood, including the one you can see clearly from the observatory atop One World Trade Center.

On the birthdays of 9/11 victims, white roses are placed in their names on the walls that surround the pools. Other items on those walls are placed by visitors to remember specific victims, and memorial staff remove them at the end of each day.

Dedicated in 2019, the 9/11 Memorial Glade recognizes survivors, responders, recovery workers and and community members who worked at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and the site of the plane crash in Pennsylvania. They suffered injury, sickness and death in the years that followed.

The Survivor Tree is the only one that predates 9/11 and came from the original site. A Callery pear tree, it is the first tree to bloom each spring.