Can You Believe It Has Been 20 Years???????????????????????????

                                      I had just emerged from below ground, having taken the No.1 downtown train,  to 14th Street and Seventh Avenue.  I had an appointment with  my then therapist.  It was such a beautiful, clear, crisp morning that was almost too perfect.  Well, that was about to change.

                                         As I approached St. Vincent's Hospital, I saw a group of Con Ed workers talking.  Walking by, I caught something  about a "plane hitting the World Trade Center."  I was surprised,  and walked on, thinking of the story my father once told  me, of  how a  plane crashed into  the Empire State  Building, back  in  1947.  Nobody was really harmed,  and I thought, at first,  the World Trade Center incident was no  more ominous than back  in  1947.

                                          Then, I  saw what was pictured, above.  My first thought was this was out of a 50's monster movie.  People were standing  in the middle  of Christopher Street and  Seventh Avenue South,  where I now was, watching in horror.  Then, the second tower seemed to go ablaze, and  mass  hysteria struck.  Even more,  when a woman , on her phone, shouted,  "They hit the Pentagon!"  That is when I knew we were under attack.   Along  with November 22, 1963, I knew this would be a benchmark  date  for  my generation.  And it is.

                                             I was late for my appointement, but neither of  us seemed  bothered.  I was in some kind of  shock, and we  talked of  inconsequential  things.  This was on  Waverly Place.   When  I was sent back into the  fray, more people gathered  in shock and horror, consoling each other.  Suddenly, we  all  screamed, as before our eyes, the second tower fell before our eyes,  slowly flattening out.  People began to  run.  I began to walk.  I wasn't  certain where, though I eventually ended up at my workplace, where we watched the  coverage, till told  to  go home.

                                              That was two decades  ago.  I was 46, then; I am 66 now.  

                                                City life changed then; ironically, as a  result of the current pandemic, another benchmark, it will change again.

                                                  We can never forget.  But, twenty years ahead, I have to ask  myself--

                                                    Where shall we be???????????????????