It is hard to believe that it’s been 8 years.

I know this will sound cliche today but…I’ll never forget where I was when it happened.

That morning I left Miami for Daytona Beach, FL. In a car–we opted out of radio and instead were listening to Dave Matthews. We pulled over for gas and a break at about 9:15. The second tower had just been hit— there was a crowd of people gathered around what seemed to be the only TV at this Turnpike rest area.

“What happened?” I asked…people kept giving versions of what the reports were saying… “There was a bomb on a plane and it hit the Twin Towers” was the first explanation…my traveling companion wasn’t with me when I first learned the news…when she came out I told her…and the rest of the trip north consisted of second guessing whether we should go…calling friends and family in NYC to check on them…and finally arriving in Daytona Beach and going through the motions without really understanding the how and why…

The top picture on the right was taken the weekend of September 11, 2004 –my first semester of grad school at Bank Street College of Education in NYC.

The bottom picture was taken August 2001. I was in the city visiting a dear friend from SMU along with 3 other friends. The 5 of us took lots of pictures n our last day on the trip as we walked from City Hall over the bridge into Brooklyn.

As an ex-part time New Yorker…I really do stop and look at where I am today—how so much can happen in 8 years…and how thankful we have to be that we are alive, healthy and surrounded by loved ones.

…never forget how nice we were to each other in the weeks after that.