nyc: 9/11 memorial

Day 3 continued:

This was special for me. Walking in and seeing the memorial pools made me a little teary. There I was standing where so many had died. All of these years have passed and it's still very emotional.

I briefly explained 9/11 to Addison. I kept it simple and tried to use words that she would understand. Instead of terrorists I called them bad guys. That kind of thing. I'm not sure how much of it she really got, but she's smarter than I give her credit for. I know she doesn't know the meaning of a lot of it now, but 9/11 will forever be in her history books. I think it's neat that one day she can go back and look at these pictures and talk about it.

Right before we left we walked over to one of the pools, away from all the people. We happen to look down and there was Todd Beamer's name. He was the passenger on Flight 93 that after talking to emergency services and realizing what was going decided to try and stop the hijackers. The last thing the operator heard him say was "Let's Roll". Notice that his name is worn from all of the people that have probably touched it.

The three of us at the Survivor Tree. The only tree planted at the towers that survived the attack.

Glad I got to share this day with some special people in my life.