WTC

I've been to NYC once a year for the last four years. One because Broadway is one of my favorite things to experience, and second because every year I've heard the WTC museum would be opened. Well this year it finally was. I had been to the memorial in 2012 and was truly moved, but was overcome with grief at times today. It's somber, and the sadness you felt on 9/11 is just as present when you go through the museum.

Along with the artifacts salvaged, you go into these little rooms with videos and phone recordings. One was the first responders, there was another with people from the WTC trying to let family know where they were. The one that got me though was the timeline from UAL 93, this was particularly hard for me in 2001, but today the tears came rolling in that room. United 93 was a flight I had worked on several times. It was a 3 day trip that some of us newbie reserves in SFO got and liked. The reason we got it was the 4:30am check in and a 4 hour layover in Denver, but then onto DC for the night where the crew always seemed to head to Georgetown together to eat, the next day we were all dispersed to other trips and I usually flew to Newark which again was a super easy day, got in early laid over in Morristown and worked with a Newark crew the way back on 93 the next day direct to SFO. It was a great flight on a 757. I was usually the most junior and therefore assigned to work first class with the purser. The back of the plane was rarely no more than half full and was a super easy place to be, but up front the 757 had 24 first class, so while the purser prepared the plates I would serve.

When 93 crashed on 9/11 I could picture where everyone may have been that day on that plane. After United sent a tribute letter out to all employees with the names of the United employees lost on 9/11 and a little about them. One woman had started about 6 months after me, she had only been there for little over a year, left a career as a police officer and had young kids at home in Florida. In that little room today they went over the planes timeline and played her recorded phone message to her husband, ending with a broken voice saying she hoped to see his face again....

If you go to NYC I encourage you to pay your respects to all those lost that day by going to the memorial and museum.

The last piece removed from the WTC

 

One WTC, the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. Stands 1776 feet high, a deliberate reference to the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.

 

 

We took the Staten Island ferry out today to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty. Seriously one of the most awesome ways to view her. Leaves every 30 minutes and is free. Just you have to get off at Staten Island and hop back on!

It's been an amazing trip with my girl. I'll write more on it later!

 

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