Mom and Dad thought it was very important that we visit the 9/11 Memorial while we were in NYC. Before we left Indiana, we watched a few documentaries and had a lot of discussions about that day. Both Mom and Dad told us where they were when the attacks occured and how they found out about them.  We also discussed how 9/11 has influenced the world in which we are growing up in.

So we knew a lot of the “facts” about what happened that day.  But going to the site made it a lot more personal.  And talking to people who were there or directly impacted made it even more real.  One of the first people we met on our way to the 9/11 memorial was Harry. He was near the memorial, sharing his experience and what he knew with anyone who cared to listen.

Harry had a folder full of pictures. It was an old folder, beginning to fall apart, and I could only imagine how many people he’d shared it with.

He shared a lot of coll information with us including the facts that there are:

• 7 World Trade Center buildings.
• 7 red stripes on the American Flag.
• 7 letters in the word “America”.
• 7 letters in “New York”.
• 7 spokes on the Statue Of Liberty’s crown.

We spoke with Harry for almost an hour before moving on towards the memorial, looking at this memorial wall on our way.

Once we made it through security and arrived at the memorial, we spent a lot of time just quietly watching the water fall into the pool.  We looked over all the names, and asked Paul, a volunteer, lots of questions.

The day we were there, we counted 5 white roses placed into the names.

We later discovered the reason why they were there.

I’m not sure that I can describe how it felt to be there.  It was very peaceful and yet there was such a sense of sadness.  Hewitt actually spent much of the time visibly upset and near tears.

The museum hadn’t opened yet, so we were not able to do that.  But I was ok with that, it was enough to see all of the names.  The hardest part for me was reading where it said a woman’s name “and her unborn child”. While I was there, I said a prayer for peace for everyone who lost a loved one.

As sad as it was, I’m really glad that we were able to visit.  It was great to see that those who were lost were being remembered, but at the same time, a new tower as going up to show that America was not defeated.