Saturday, September 10, 2011

Top of the World.


BEDS Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago 



This is my dad and a very teenager-y me who still thought I could get away without bras (you can't tell in this picture, but someone really should've corrected my error). The importance of this photo can't be seen; I have to explain it.

This picture is from my dad's former office, located on what was the sixty-fourth floor of World Trade Center One.

(Before I go on, my dad is fine. Yes, he was at work on September 11th, but he was able to get out in time.)

I visited his workplace for probably the third time in my life a mere two weeks - to the day - before the buildings came crashing down. We also visited the South Tower, where you could go to the top and look out of huge windows at the city below. It was actually a wonderful day and I'm glad I got to experience it.

Unfortunately, this photo only brings sadness into my heart. It was my dad's office, where he kept knick knacks and photos, the place that was essentially his home away from home. To know that all of the things in that office were reduced to ash... it brings a realness to what happened that day. It's a sober reminder of what my dad had to go through when he left in the middle of a confused frenzy on that sunny September morning only to turn around and see that the place he worked every day was suddenly gone.

I'm so grateful to have my father, safe and sound, because I know how many people lost loved ones. But the events of that day took something from my dad, something that would be hard to replace. They took his sense of security and instilled in him a sense of anxiety that won't ever go away. I wouldn't say he's that noticeably different after what happened, but I know he is. Because there's no way you can ever erase something like that from your memory.