September 11th was one of those days that will never leave your mind, it’s etched into memory like a first kiss, wedding day, or death of a loved one. They’re not all bad memories; in the depths of the heartache and pain rose hundreds of stories of heroism and love. This was one of those events that affected everyone who witnessed it but unless you lived through it I’m sure it would be impossible to understand just how bad it was. I was living with my parents in California at the time. My mother rushed into my room to wake me up with the following words, “the world trade center has been hit by an airplane.” Thinking about it right now gives me chills.
For a 21 year old who had no idea what the world trade centers were, my life has never been quite the same since. It’s not too much to ask to take a few minutes each year to remember those who were lost, those who rose from the ashes to motivate and inspire, and equally as important, reflect on yourself and who you were before and after that fateful day.
Sure our vacation was about getting away, having a great time with friends, but for Crystal and me it was also about remembering what happened. We visited Ground Zero on our first trip to New York last year and did so again on this visit. However, we failed to find the Ground Zero Memorial workshop on our first visit but with the help of Dennis had no problem finding it this time around. Out of all the things we had on our list to do while in New York this was by far the one thing Crystal wanted to follow through on.
It’s actually a very fascinating back story behind the Ground Zero Memorial Workshop. The museum is filled with photographs taken by the museums owner Gary Marlon Suson as well as artifacts from ground zero. Mr. Suson was asked to document the recovery efforts by the Fire Fighters union and was the only photographer allowed at Ground Zero. It’s not my place to document every ounce of the museum or it’s back story but I will say it is something everyone should witness at least once. A large majority of the images have numbers that correlate to an audio track on their electronic media player that tells a back story to each object. The museum is small in size, it’s basically a studio apartment but as they say it’s the “smallest big museum in New York.” Don’t let it’s size fool you, there is a lot of images, stories, and artifacts.
A couple of my favorite artifacts was the glass from the World Trade Center, a portion of one of the American Airlines fuselages that hit the twin tower(we were politely asked not to to take pictures of the fuselage which we respectfully obliged), and several crosses and Stars of David cut out of the steel beams from Ground Zero. I could tell you the whole back story behind the glass, fuselage, and crosses but I’ll let you visit the Museum on your own so you can experience it first hand.
After an emotional visit to the museum we headed back to the apartment where Dennis fixed some delicious pork chops, fresh vegetables, and fresh salad. Of course we toasted our last night in New York with some good wine and some great company including discussions ranging from Asian’s having shorter intestines to vegetarian having better smelling gas. We had a wonderful trip and are very thankful to Dennis and Yuki for hosting us and being so generous with their time and money. Crystal and I are looking forward to returning the generosity when Dennis and Yuki make it out our way for a visit.
