NYC and 9/11

I did this layout for a Challenge over at ScrapFreak. This photo was taken 9/10/01. I've been meaning to scrap it and tell our 9/11 story. I finally sat down and made it happen.

The circle has a brad that is attached to journaling that pulls from the back. I printed the journaling on a subtle green paper.

JOURNALING: In September 2001 Nick and I had been dating about 6 months and took our first trip together to NYC. His parents were living there and had a spot for us to stay. They were traveling so we had the apartment to ourselves until the last night. It was the perfect getaway.

On the morning of 9/10/01 we began our last day in the city. We were down by the World Trade Center. Nick asked if I wanted to go up. I said, “No- we’ll do it next time”. Little did I know that less than 24 hours later we would experience a life changing event and that there never would be a next time.

We snapped this photo of the Brooklyn Bridge on 9/10/01 around the time the first plane would hit the next day. Today it hangs in our dining room. When I look at it I’m reminded of both the amazing, relationship changing trip we took together as well as the vision of people walking across it to safety on 9/11/01.

We flew from LaGuardia to OHare on 9/10 after several delays. At one point they talked about redirecting us to Newark to fly out on 9/11. We would not have been on that United flight but it still hits close to home. We made it to Chicago for the night. On the morning of 9/11 we were in the air flying from Chicago to Madison when the first plane hit.

I distinctly remember walking towards baggage claim and seeing the second plane hit. We were in a hurry but I told Nick, “Wait!! Something big is happening”The rest of the day is kind of a blur. I was supposed to fly back out that afternoon for work. Obviously didn’t happen. Nick’s parents lived 4 blocks from the United Nations and were on complete lockdown. We kept trying to get a hold of them and feeling helpless for a couple of hours until we finally spoke to them.

I remember so many of my friends calling me and my parents to make sure I was ok. They had known we were in NYC on vacation. But what I remember most about that day is what it did for my relationship with Nick. For me anyways. I remember sitting on the bottom step of my loft apartment on the West side of Madison just holding each other and crying. I remember thinking, “I’m going to marry this man. There is no one else I’d rather be with right now”. It was one of those events that put everything into perspective.