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From: Danielle Yglesias
Sent to New York Metro: 10/16/01
The following is dedicated to my Sister's family who are residents
of Battery Park City; her two children, my niece Jackie and nephew
Cliff were students at P.S. 89. My nephew's classroom window looked
right at the Towers and he saw the first plane hit. He's only four
years old.
Memorial for the Twin Towers
I grew up in New York City Born and raised in Brooklyn, near Coney
Island. I was born in '69 So I have no real recollection of New
York City without the Towers. When I was in grammar school it was
a wholly great adventure to take the yellow school bus trip to the
World Trade Center Observation Deck. It was the only time I knew
a teacher to pass out gum so our ears wouldn't pop on the way up
in the high speed elevators. My first impressions of the view were
of peace and awe at the wonders mankind could achieve.
My very first job, while still in High School was delivering messages
and packages throughout the Trade Center Buildings. I'd carry brown
boxes and pink message slips throughout all the long carpeted corridors.
All the busy three piece suits would smile and say "thanks" and
I'd sneak lunch from the corporate dining tables they had set up
in the halls.
My sister and brother-in-law married in '92 They had their reception
at "Windows of the World". I was the maid of honor and I toasted
to their health and their love as the city looked in and gave its
blessing. There are few days in life that one can call perfect but
we drank, danced and took smiling family pictures where even old
nemesis' wrapped arms in good gesture. It was magic. It was alchemy.
So giddy were we that we all sang in the elevator on the way down.
After that I hadn't been up high in the Trade Centers although I
walked through it all the time; Christmas shopping, catching the
train, enjoying the free summer concerts they held in the plaza.
But this year in late August, I met some friends for dinner and
their six-year-old son wanted to see the Towers. His first time...
We walked out on the deck as the last blaze of sunset greeted us
and the dark blue of the coming night ate away at the sky. The city
hummed below as it turned on its electric halo and the Avenues and
Streets, the veins of light twinkled like the tails of comets. We
dropped quarters into tourist telescopes and looked up at the moon,
so close and tempting like a cookie waiting for a bite. We looked
down on Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and I felt peace
and awe like I had as a child.
For the last month I have taken the
"W" train over the Brooklyn Bridge to get to work as I have always
done before and the tears come when sight acknowledges what is missing
from a view once taken for granted. But I find comfort In Lady Liberty
and Ol' Glory waving to me from high atop the arch of the parallel
Manhattan Bridge.
I miss my city siblings; the firemen, the policemen,
all the people who died just trying to get through their daily lives
and I truly miss the Towers and the peace and the awe....
Danielle
M. Yglesias
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