This is the September 11, 2001 memorial that was erected last year in my town. The project came about from an eagle scout for his arrow of light project. It is a very simple memorial with four sides, the front is pictured above. On one side it is in remembrance of those who died in New York, the next side is for those who died at the Pentagon, and the last side is for those who died in Pennsylvania. All around the base embedded in the rocks are the shields and logos for the branches of the armed forces along with the fire department and police department. The kid who set this up and coordinated the donations for this memorial was 14 years old at the time. Gives me a little hope for kids out there.

We will remember…

One of the Web Comic Artisits reflected on what he was doing 5 years ago. Here is my reflection.

I was working with my father that day. We were digging posts for a rather large deck on a friend of the family’s home. The ground in Massachusetts is mostly clay and we were using an auger to do the digging. It took days to dig these holes and we were exhausted and frustrated. I took a break and drove out to Chase Lumber to pick up some brackets for the support beams. While I was in the store I heard someone say that a plane had hit the world trade center and in my mind I pictured a Cessna sitting on one of the top floors with the windows blown out around it but in my mind I pictured that no one was there and the pilot was okay. It wasn’t until I got back in the Van and headed back to the job site that I noticed the radio Dj was crying and talking about how horrible things were with the plane crash. It still had not hit me. I got back and said to my Dad, “A plane hit the World Trade Center.” Still thinking it was a small Cessna or something. We continued to work. It wasn’t until the woman who’s home we were working on came out and said, “You’d better come see this.” And we went inside to see the reports. We packed up our materials and headed home. We turned on the TV just as tower 1 fell. We sat there unable to comprehend what was happening and then Tower 2 fell. It was all so surreal. I called my then fiance (now wife) Allison and asked if her boss or any co-workers had flown today. They frequently fly out of Boston all over the country. And they also had many meetings and clients at the World Trade Center. She said that no one was traveling and they were all safe. I was relieved. I can’t remember if we went back to work that day or anything much after the towers fell. I was so heartbroken. That evening when Allison came home we just held each other can cried about it. We wandered in a daze downtown to a restaurant and bar and had dinner, the place was nearly silent except for the TV showing the events of the day.