We tried to go up to the observatory in the new World Trade Center tower today. We didn’t. We’ll try again tomorrow. Unrelated to why we didn’t go up, my wife and I both had some difficulty while waiting in line for tickets. Somehow we each, when faced with the possibility of going to the top of the building that replaced the two that were attacked on 9/11, both got major cases of paranoia and cold feet. It was tough. It will be tough when we try again tomorrow too.
The kids didn’t understand, and they were getting upset with our flip flopping on going up vs not going up. I told them that for people who remember 9/11/01, going to the top of that building is just hard to do. For people who don’t remember the events of that day, it won’t really make sense. In the end we couldn’t get a ticket anyway so it didn’t matter (as mentioned, we’ll try again tomorrow) but in an attempt to make them understand, we walked over to the memorial.
I didn’t know any of the 9/11 victims, or any of their family. The one person I know who was caught up in the events made it out okay (physically at least). The only connection to a victim that I have is through work. One of the airline passengers worked for the company I work for now. It was three years before I was hired, but people still talk about her and the company posts a remembrance on our internal homepage every year. When I was first hired in July of 2004 I had my orientation in a training room in Canton that was named for her.
When I walked over to the memorial with the kids I tried to explain that the fountains are the size and shape of the buildings and they are located where the buildings actually stood. I said that was important, but the real important part was the names. I told them to look at the names and then try to understand that each fountain is completely surrounded by names. There are thousands of them. I was hoping that would sink in a little and maybe they’d get an idea of why their mother and I are so affected by everything.
As I looked down at the names that were right in front of us couldn’t believe it. That random spot on the corner of the North Tower fountain just happened to have the name of the woman who worked for my company. When I put my hand down on the list of names to try and emphasize the scale of the tragedy, it was her name I touched
My orientation was held in the Flyzik room.
Inside the Red Head's Head 
I hope the kids could actually grasp the enormity of the events of 9/11. Something like how I feel when I realize what happened at Pearl Harbor, long before I was born. They may be too young yet, but as the mature I’m sure it will hit them what actually happened in NYC (and elsewhere) that day, and be shocked by it. Heck, I’m still shocked today! When I saw the last photo and read about your “connection” believe me the hairs on my arms stood up. SO serendipitous (if that’s the right word). I hope you make it to the top of the Freedom Tower today, because I believe it will give all of you an even better empathy for those who are gone. (Sorry to take so long in the comments, but it’s such a big deal I couldn’t help myself!)
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