Remembering 10 years

This post is really more for the kids to read when they're older, so please bear with me.

10 years ago today, Bethany and I were beginning an otherwise normal day. We tended to wake up around 6:30 or 7:00am and leisurely get ready for the day. We had an alarm clock that played a local radio station when the alarm would go off, and we'd leave it on for the duration of a normal morning to listen to the morning DJs. As we went about our normal routine, the DJs weren't joking and playing music as normal, they were talking about burning buildings and strange things going on. Bethany and I were both confused, so we turned the TV on.

CNN, at the time, was the news source of record, and that's where we turned the channel. Images of fire and smoke billowing from one of the towers of the World Trade Center were on all of the news stations, though. Not knowing at the time how NYC flight patterns worked, or the specific geography, I thought to myself how it might have been possible for a plane to accidentally crash into such tall buildings. (Two years prior I had been at the top of those buildings with a friend, and I remember being amazed at how tall the buildings were.)

We watched the TV for a little bit, with the anchors not really sure what was going on, or how/why it had all happened. As we watched, I remember one of the shots they showed us had a glimpse of the second plane, and then the screen was showing the ensuing fireball of the second aircraft colliding with the second building. Bethany and I were both flabbergasted. It was obvious at that point that the entire sequence of events was intentional, and the intention was to terrorize America.

Our TV was in our bedroom and we were both sitting on the bed when the first tower fell. What we saw on TV didn't make sense. It appeared as though the building was falling, with smoke and debris flying everything. I remarked that it couldn't be falling, that it must have been another explosion. Bethany thought the tower had fallen. As the various camera shots were moved around it became obvious that Bethany was right. A short time later, we both sat stunned as the second tower collapsed. At the time, it was assumed that the towers had been nearly full. The assumed loss of life was being calculated in the 10s of thousands. I worked at and attended BYU. It was a Tuesday and my classes were later that afternoon. I arrived at work late, and I remember the announcement that there would be a prayer meeting in the Marriott Center, and then all students and staff were released for the day.

As the following years and months unfolded, details, heroes and villains all emerged. Stories will continue to be told of those events, and hearts will continue to be touched. I didn't know anyone who was directly affected by the events of 9/11/2001. I have been touched by the collective feeling of compassion for those who were affected. And on this night, 9/11/2011, ten years later as I sit in a hotel room blocks from where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once stood, I'm reminded again of the collective feeling of compassion. On my way home from dinner this evening, this is what I saw:

FROM AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, LOOKING SOUTH.

On the anniversary of 9/11, massive flood lights are illuminated in the place where the Twin Towers once stood. It's called the Tribute of Light. What an opportunity to see that on the 10th anniversary. Here's a better picture than my dinky little camera can take:

COPYRIGHT 2011 GETTY IMAGES

From my hotel room I'm able to look north and see what is currently the tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building. It is illuminated in a Red/White/Blue color scheme to commemorate the 10th anniversary as well.

LOOKING NORTH FROM WATTS STREET.
THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING IS LIT IN RED/WHITE/BLUE.

If you have any memories or other comments you'd like to share (especially with our children), please do so.

Final Thoughts about NYC

I know I got back from my trip to NYC a month ago now, but I wanted to write out my final thoughts/observations about the city before I forgot.

• I grew up at sea level, but have lived the last 14 years in the Rocky Mountains.  It was interesting to realize that in terms of altitude, that when I was at the top of the Empire State Building, that I was still about 4700 feet lower in altitude that standing in my driveway at home.   
• New York City puts ads everywhere.  If there is an open space - they put it there.  The oddest place I saw was the riser portion of stairs in the subway stations.  They had to split  up the add in strips to make it fit and from far away it looked like one big ad that you could read, but then up close it was split between the stairs. 
• There are only two colors of cars in NYC.  Yellow or Black.  Okay - not really - but close!  I think pretty much you either take a taxi or you have a private black car with tinted windows and a driver.  Very few people have vehicles - which makes sense of course.  It was funny to try to imagine the SUVs and trucks I see around here, trying to get around in New York. 
• It is true - the city really doesn't sleep.  The streets seem just as busy at midnight as they do at noon. 
• New Yorkers don't know the subway system any better than anyone else.  We had locals approach us on more than one occasion  (we must have passed for locals ourselves instead of tourists!) asking for subway directions to get where they were going.   And it's true - there really are rats and cockroaches in the subway.
• There is no such thing as personal space there. People cram into subways, tables in restaurants are practically on top of each other, etc. One restaurant we went to the table was literally 1 inch from the table next to us - and people were seated there. The illusion of personal space seems to be created solely by eye contact - or the lack here there of. You can be crammed right up against someone, but as long as you don't look at each other you're good. I completely understand how you can be in a city full of millions of people, and still feel alone.
• New York has its own sort of beauty.  It isn't mountains or beach sunsets, but it still has its own majestic, awe-inspiring feel.

The View Out My Window

Today is a lovely day in New York. Thought I'd share the view out the window:

Mommy and the Museum of Modern Art

Mommy decided that while Daddy was at work again, that she would go to one last museum while she was in New York City.  This time she went to one called the Museum of Modern Art.  She got to the museum right at 9:30am, only it turns out it doesn't open until 10:30am.  Whoops!  So Mommy decided to go for a nice walk around New York and see what she could see.  One building she found was called Trump Tower.  It is a very tall and very sparkly building.  It had a waterfall on the inside!  It is hard to see in the picture but the water is running all the way down that wall:

After that, Mommy stumbled upon a HUGE toy store called FAO Schwarz.  Here are some things Mommy saw there:

A toy soldier made out of jelly beans:

And a whole area where you can adopt baby dolls that look like real babies.  The ladies that worked there were all dressed like nurses to take care of the babies:

And there were beautiful dollhouses:

There was even a huge section just for Legos.  Daddy was very very  jealous that Mommy got to see the Legos and he didn't!  Look at this Statue of Liberty made out of Legos!

After the toy store, Mommy finally got to go see the museum.  There were some very neat paintings and some strange ones too.  What do you think of this one? 

There were some very popular ones.  Some of them Mommy had to get around a lot of people in order to get close enough to actually see the painting and get close enough to take a picture!  This one was the most popular.  It is called Starry Night.

Lots of people wanted to see this one too, but luckily it was very very big.  It was much bigger than Mommy thought it would be.  It is called Water Lilies.

And this painting was much much smaller than Mommy thought it would be.  She had to wait in line to take a picture of it because it was so small that not a lot of people could take a picture at the same time.  How many funny clocks can you see in it?

After Mommy looked at all the interesting art, she decided to head out to a part of the museum called the sculpture garden.  It was outside and very beautiful with trees, fountains, and of course, sculptures!  She sat down and read a book the for about an hour!

After the museum, Mommy decided she needed one last real New York experience.  So, she decided she needed to head to the best place in the city to get a bagel with lox.  Lox is another name for smoked salmon.  She had to ride two different trains to get to the shop, but it was worth it.  It was the best smoked salmon she has ever had - and Mommy knows her salmon so that is saying a lot! 

Daddy had a lot of fun showing Mommy all around New York City this week.  She got to do a lot of fun things but she sure did miss her kids a lot!

Mommy at the Metropolitan Museum

Daddy had to work again, so that meant Mommy was on her own again for the day.  She decided that she would go see another museum.  New York City has lots and lots of museums.  This time she went to one called the Metropolitian Museum of Art.  The museum was so big that Mommy spent all day there and didn't even get home until dinner time! 
The very first place she went to was a section all about Egypt.  She got to see mummies, a sarcophagus, parts of pyramids, and lots of other things from Egypt.

There was also a section all about America.  Mommy had a lot of fun admiring all the beautiful silver and glassware.  I hope she remembered to wipe the drool off the glass cases before she left!  This is what the atrium looked like in that area.  Mommy sat down for awhile just to enjoy the sunshine and beauty of that section.

Another part of the museum she went into was all about knights!

Then Mommy found a school class on a field trip to the museum. They all had sketch pads and were practicing sketching some sculptures that they saw:

Mommy's favorite part of the museum was all the paintings.  Paintings are so interesting because there are so many different ways to make a painting beautiful.  And some painting are really hard to tell what they are and some are easy! 

This painting was tricky - can you see the people in it?

Mommy found this painting and thought it was a very nice painting of a river and a boat:

But when she looked closer, guess what she saw?  The painting was made out of polkadots!

The best paintings were the ones that reminded her of the kids though:

This one reminded her of Emmaline:

And this one reminded her of Liliana:

This one reminded her of Idgie and Liliana together:

And this one reminded her of Lincoln - especially since the little boy in this picture is riding a toy horse just like the picture grandma took of Lincoln the other day!

In the subway station on the way home, Mommy saw two funny people dancing and everybody was happy and clapping.  They were fun to watch!

That night, Daddy took Mommy to go see Chinatown.  They sell things a funny way in Chinatown.  The price on the shelf isn't the real price!  First mommy had to pretend she was interested in something.  They would tell her the price, and then she would say that was too expensive.  So then they would tell her a cheaper price.  Then she would still say it was too expensive and they would tell her an even cheaper price, and then she would buy it!  Mommy even found a few surprises for her kids while in Chinatown!

After going there, Daddy took Mommy to go eat dinner in Little Italy.  They ate at a table right on the sidewalk and it was the best pasta Mommy and Daddy have ever had!  Unfortunately, right when they were finishing up, it suddenly started to rain really really hard.  All the people eating outside had to run into the restaurant.  Luckily Mommy and Daddy were done so they decided to get out their umbrella and go get dessert.  They found a yummy place that only sells desserts from Italy.  Mommy had such a hard time deciding that she just randomly picked three things on the list!  Luckily they were all good choices so she enjoyed every single thing they brought her.  And dessert is always a good way to end your day!

Mommy at the Guggenheim

On Monday, Daddy had to go back to work, so Mommy got to tour the city alone!  She decided to go to a museum with a funny name.  It was called the Guggenheim! The Guggenheim is right next to Central Park.  It is a good thing Daddy taught Mommy how to use the subway over the weekend, because it was a little tricky to get there.

Not only does the Guggenheim have a funny name, but it is a funny looking building too!  See how it is a circle?

And the inside is a circle too.  It's like a big ramp that goes around and around and around, all the way to the top, and you can look at works of art on the way.  This is what it looked like from the inside:

At the Guggenheim, they don't let you take pictures of the artwork but Mommy got to see works of art by people that she learned about when she was in school like Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, Seurat, Monet, and Manet.   There was also a special exhibit of art by someone named Lee Ufan.  Mommy had never heard of him but apparently he is pretty famous.  Mommy couldn't figure out why since most of his artworks were things like boulders placed on top of sheets of steel or on mirrors or cotton.  One boulder was even placed on a purple pillow.   Mommy thought it was odd. After all, if she wanted to see big boulders placed in beautiful ways, she could just go home!

That night after Daddy got home from work, he took Mommy to the movie theater to see Harry Potter 7.  After so many hot days, it was nice to finally have some rain as they walked to the theater.  The movie theater was really neat.  It was in a tall building too so they had to go to the 4th floor to get to the theater.  Mommy and Daddy had never seen a movie theater like that before.  On the way home it was midnight, but Mommy was impressed that there were still people out everywhere.  At home everyone would already be home and in bed, but not in New York City!

Mommy and the Statue of Liberty

Even though Daddy had already been to the Statue of Liberty, he decided to wanted Mommy to see it too!  It is on an island called Liberty Island so they had to get on a boat to go there.  This is what New York City looks like from there:

And this is what the Statue of Liberty looks like from the boat: 

Once they got to the island, they went inside a museum that told them all about how the Statue of Liberty was built.  One thing they learned is that the statue got a new torch!  So they got to take their picture in front of the old one:

Mommy and Daddy were very lucky and got to go into a part of the statue called the Pedestal.  That is the part the Statue of Liberty is standing on.  You can either take the stairs or the elevator to get up there.  They took the elevator.  The best part is they got to see the Statue of Liberty from really close.  They were so close they couldn't even see her head - but can you spot her crown?

After they left there, the boat took them to a really neat place called Ellis Island.   That is an island where many, many people first came to our country.  Mommy and Daddy got to walk around in the building, and watched a really neat movie about the island.  This is the building:

That night, mommy and daddy decided to go on another bus tour of the city.  New York has many big signs and bright lights all over so it is very pretty.  It is so bright there that at night you can't see any stars!  This is what the bus looked like.  They got to ride up on the top!  It was so tall that if Daddy reached up his hand, he could have touched the traffic lights as they drove under them, but he was good and kept his arms inside the bus at all times.

See how bright Times Square is at night?

The funniest thing they saw was when the bus drove through Chinatown.  This sign isn't written in English, but I bet you can figure out what it says anyway:

It was a very long day but Mommy and Daddy got to see many wonderful things!

Mommy at the Museum

Mommy and Daddy had heard about a fantastic museum. It's called the American Museum of Natural History. It's a museum with A LOT of neat things to see. Mommy and Daddy first saw a movie about stars. It was inside of a theatre that was shaped like a giant ball! They sat inside the ball, and the movie was shown on the ceiling of the ball - it was really neat!

They then decided to go see the other fun things at the museum. They first went to a part of the museum that had a lot of stuffed animals. But it seemed strange. The first animal that Mommy saw was a moose! Seeing a moose wasn't a big deal to her, as she grew up with moose living right next door, and even sometimes stopping by to visit.

The first animal that Daddy saw was a squirrel. How strange to see a stuffed squirrel in a museum - Daddy can see those in the back yard!

The next thing they saw was a big wall full of yummy things to eat! No, not really - it was a place that had all kinds of different ocean creatures on display. But Daddy knew that Mommy liked lobster, so he promised he'd take her to get some lobster some day.

Mommy saw a giant whale! It didn't scare her one bit

Daddy, though, saw a shark. He was scared!

Mommy tried to win a staring content with a polar bear! And even though she didn't win, she wasn't scared. Good job, Mommy!

Also in the museum were a lot of displays of gems and jewels. Mommy found some gems that looked just like those on her wedding ring!

At one point, Mommy and Daddy really missed the kids. They tried to take a picture of something that reminded them of Emmaline, Liliana, Imogene and Lincoln. The small monkeys did the trick.

Along the way, Daddy tried to hide from Mommy. Can you spot Daddy? He looks just like a zebra!

Mommy and Daddy thought it was funny that there was a whole part of the museum dedicated to birds that live in New York City. They weren't sure that a whole section dedicated to pigeons would be any fun.

In the subways, Daddy has seen a lot of rats. This is what a rat looks like!

In the last part of the museum, Mommy and Daddy found dinosaurs! Here's a friendly T-rex that stopped so they could take a picture with him.

And here's a neat triceratops!

After the museum, Mommy and Daddy went on a bus ride around the city. One of the places the bus went was right by Daddy's office at Madison Square Garden! Can you see his office way up on the 21st floor?

While on the bus, there was a lot of stopping and waiting because there are so many cars. Look how crowded the streets are with cars! What a traffic Jam!

After the bus tour, Daddy and Mommy tried to find a restaurant that served food from the Dominican Republic.  That is where Daddy served for two years as a missionary!  They had an address, but it turned out that the subway was being fixed, which means the trains don't always take the tracks they are supposed to.  Mommy and Daddy suddenly found themselves in a part of the city call Brooklyn instead of staying in the part of the city called Manhatten.  Whoops!  Luckily they were able to get on a different train that took them back.  They found the restaurant and Daddy said it was super yummy and very authentic.

After a long day,, Mommy and Daddy were ready to go home. They had had a really fun day!