On September 11, 2010, I was feeling a bit of sadness as I reflected back to the events of 9 years prior. It was a day that I will never forget, as will many others I'm sure. I don't necessarily want to rehash the events of that day, where I was, or how I felt because I think the entire world was in a state of shock. However, I have held onto to a photograph for these past nine years that I would like to share.
On July 16th 2001, I was awaken by a phone call that would forever change my life. My Mom called to tell me that my best friend Amey had passed away in a car accident. I was living in Dublin, Ireland at the time, and was overcome with grief. I had never lost someone so close to me before, nor ever dreamed that I would lose Amey. I booked the next flight out and was back in Ohio in less that 24 hours.
The trip to Ohio was the worst trip of my life and to this day is somewhat of a fog. I buried my best friend, tried to see my family, and tried to grieve the best way I knew how. After a miserable week, I boarded my flight from Cincinnati to Newark. The skies were dark that day, much like my spirit, and inevitably the flight was delayed. By the time we took off and landed in Newark, I had missed my connection to Dublin. The airline put me up in a nearby airport hotel since it would be 24 hours until I could depart for Dublin. Out of pure exhaustion, I slept through the night.
The next morning I awoke and decided to bus it into the Big City and try to meet up with my cousin Diana for lunch, since it had been some time since I had seen her last and even longer since I had been to NYC. The bus from Newark dropped me in the financial district, and I met up with Diana in the atrium of the World Trade Center. After lunch, I decided to do some shopping in the basement mall of the World Trade Center hitting up the New Balance store and Gap. With time on my hands, I popped into LensCrafters for an eye exam and got new contacts. I didn't stray too far from the WTC as I knew I didn't have much time before I needed to make my way back to Newark.
As I was waiting for my bus, I reached into my bag to find my ticket, felt my camera, and realized I hadn't taken any photos on my trip. Not that it was a trip that I really wanted to document considering, but I thought I should take one quick photo as my bus was approaching. I pointed my lens straight up and this is the result:
At the time I didn't know what I had captured as it was a time before digital photography, for me at least. Once the prints came back, I realized it was a decent shot, but it became much more poignant less than 2 months later on 9/11, 2001.
I am glad I had that day with the World Trade Center in the midst of my own grief, and grateful that I have the image to hold onto in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. The World Trade Center will always stand time in my memory.
