I lived in NYC for a few years out of college but now only get back once every few years. Last December, my husband and I decided to take our daughters (5 and 3 at the time) into the City to see the tree as Rockefeller Center and on a whim we decided to take them to to the observation level of the WTC.
I remember how my younger daughter cried because of the pressure change in the elevator and the young man who operated the elevator was trying to comfort her and gave her some gum to chew. I remember the people we talked to who worked in the gift shop and the snack bar. The fellow who ran the "virtual tour of NYC by helicoptor" tour. The elderly gentleman who greeted us at the bottom when we walked out of the elevator and told us to "come back next year". I pray that they are alive and well, although I realize that odds are at least some of them aren't.
My daughters loved their visit to the WTC that day and know what? They have NO IDEA that it's no longer standing. Sure, they know about the mean men who flew the airplanes into the buildings, but they don't know what buildings they were. I can't bring myself to tell them, although they will certainly know someday when they are older.
I guess the thought that it could have been us is too terrifying for me to face.
Oh, when I was home in Pittsburgh last month, my mom showed me a brochure we had gotten the very first time they took me to NYC in 1981. It showed the twin towers and the headline said, "The Closest Some of Us Will Ever Get to Heaven". It gave me a jolt, for sure
