Memorial

Item three: while we were nearby visiting Offspring the First, Beloved Husband and I took the time to visit a few New York locations: in particular, the September 11 Memorial. 

I have always wanted to go. I feel we owe it to the people who died that day, to remember them. 

It was... even harder than I imagined. 

A locus of ghosts.

One of the first visuals is a piece of one of the original buildings, right there by the escalator leading down into the memorial. It is shocking. It brought me right back to that terrible day, twenty-three years ago, but like yesterday, fresh in its terribleness. 

It was hard to look at all of the exhibits. I went through quickly, and escaped to a bench to sit down in the quiet. Beloved Husband took far more time, digesting each bit, but I did not want to become (more) overwhelmed. 

After we looked at the exhibit inside, we went outside to the water features. They really are quite beautiful, and haunting, all at once. There's an urge to walk around the edge of each, to touch each name inscribed there, to acknowledge. To remember. You are not forgotten. 

We will always remember.