lulubellnyc | Sep. 7th, 2008

As anyone who reads this journal knows, I am a New Yorker - born and raised.

My dad was a genius engineer and his company made arrangements for him to head up a 2 year project in London. My mom, bro Andrew and I were to go with him. My 2 older bros were already married and settled into their jobs and their lives. I had one year of school left, but I agreed to go and either complete my education there or complete it when we came back.

So the 4 of us moved to London in November of 1999. The company leased us a nice house in Primrose Hill in north London. It was diffcult at first. I think the neighbors looked upon us as loud Americans, worse yet New Yorkers. My mom's gram came from England so we visited 2nd and 3rd cousins that my mom never met before and after talking about the relatives that they knew in common, there was nothing to talk about. I'd say it took about a month to start feeling more at home and meet people that would become our friends (note - after that experience I learned to go out of my way to make people feel at home, cause there is nothing worse than feeling that alone), Things were moving along well. I met the guy that became my boyfriend (beautiful Geoff, who was a teacher, songwriter and in a band), Andrew was dating both men and women, still trying to figure it out and my mom and dad made some good friends.

I did not go to school, but my mom and I went exploring around Europe. A weekend in Spain, a week in Paris - you get the idea. I'm so glad that we had that time together cause she died in 2004 and I miss her terribly. Andrew worked with my dad and all was right with the world.

September 11, 2001
It was on the news. My mom always had the TV on when home. Something had happened in NY at the World Trade Center and people were dead. Both of my older bros worked in Manhattan, though not downtown, and we all were in a panic. We could not get a call through, we tried for hours. Dad went back to his office to use the computer to see what he could find out. We had no computer in our house. Finally, he contacted someone who checked on my bros and got back to us that they were alright. My mom did not relax till she spoke to them both the next day. I can tell you I was never so happy as when I heard their voices. It was surreal to be so far away from home then. Everyone was so nice to us, but all we wanted was to get back home. The company made arrangements and we moved back to NYC before the end of September.

That's when we learned the extent of the loss. My parents lost several friends that day and my friend from school Gerald lost his dad. Flying in we saw the great void where the towers were and there was still smoke there. There was also an ungodly stench.
So many people lost, and for what?

Now seven years later, there have been many changes in my life. Both my parents and my best friend have died. I've gotten married (and not to Geoff) and now I'm pregnant. I can't help but think about all those people and their families that did not get to have these past seven years. Now America is at war, and not about terriorists, but about oil. More and more people are dying, not just the war, but those that helped in the cleanup are falling ill with all kinds of diseases related to the work they did to rescue people and clean up the site.

I don't know how to end this post, I just want us all to remember 9/11, and do everything we can to be kind to one another.