The Day Before....

11:30 am. My anxiety level has been rising lately, starting first with the earthquake that rattled my apartment and forced me to run out of our building without a thought of anything else. With no cell phone service (Bob had his wits and phone about him) it made me wonder how I would find out what was happening to my loved one in case of an emergency. I keep telling myself I need a plan and a "go" bag, but haven't either yet. Then there was the hurricane, which threatened to destroy our neighborhood. Heeding our politicians advice, we evacuated, going to my parents in Flushing. There we would be safe, and safe we were. But our car wasn't. We have a leaky roof and the rains seeped in. Not realizing the extent of the water we left it to fester so that it stalled the next time we took it out. We had to have it towed from the NJ turnpike to non-turnpike land and then again to our mechanic in Flushing. After two tries and another tow, we think it is fixed. We bought a tarp to protect it next time we have to leave it in the rain. All this made me anxious, fearful we would have major, costly repairs, but I realize we are lucky, many people had it much, much worse after the hurricane and still do. So today is the day before the big anniversary and the anxiety and anger in our neighborhood has been on the rise. Fears of being "lockdown" are rampant. We are restricted, we need to carry ID. Instead of sitting at home, watching the media make more out of nothing, we decided to walk around and see what was happening.

The first stop was the Hand In Hand celebration organized by Community Board 1. At 8:46 am, the time when the first plane hit the WTC people would stand along the westside of Manhattan holding hands, forming a human chain. And so it happened. Not as dramatically as expected, because what can you expect from a new, never done before activity. They said thousands had signed up, not sure that was true. I don't know exactly where the line started, perhaps Battery Park, but I am pretty sure it ended at the North Cove. It was a show of solidarity, of remembrance, something you could do on this day. It was nice.

We walked into the WFC and looked over at the WTC site, preparations in progress for tomorrow.

We walked across the Liberty Street bridge, still opened today but to be closed tomorrow. When we reached the east side we walked through a pedestrian check point, the first and only one I saw today. You had to show ID to go back in and over the bridge. I am not sure if they were restricting access to residents, I didn't ask. But when we returned home via Battery Place there were no people check points.

We walked past the newly created entrance for the Memorial, scheduled to open on Monday. We saw media, perched on high buildings everywhere. We went past Trinity Church, where I had read that the public is invited to tie white ribbons—symbols of remembrance—with the words “Remember to Love” on the fence. You can write your name on the ribbon. Well, I went to the wrong place, the ribbons are on St Paul's Chapel's fence, I will go there later. I did find one ribbon on the fence at Trinity.

Although security was high, police checking vehicles and some streets blocked off, the vendors were still selling their wares while tourists squeezed the balls on the bull.

The next stop was the NYC Police Museum, they are having a special exhibit of photographs taken by AP photographers on 9/11.

We caught the connection bus back home, it was running but only until State Street, where we had to get out and walk. Fortunately, it turned out to be a good thing. I had forgotten about the Wall of Remembrance, part of the Hand in Hand commemoration, where you can post a message or memento. They were also giving out left over T shirts, so we have our first memento of the day.

Also happening in Battery Park is a display of almost 3,000 flags installed by the Flag of Honor/Flag of Heroes Organization. They have been here before and always make an impression.

The day is only a quarter over, more later……