Englewood Cliffs, NJ

I went into New York today to go to the 9/11 memorial site and museum. I kinda felt it was an obligation as an American citizen to go, especially being such an easy trip from New Jersey. It was a pilgrimage to the site of, historically speaking, the worst day of my life.

I noticed the newly completed and opened Freedom Tower from the New Jersey Turnpike right after I arrived. It's huge and appeared to dwarf the Empire State Building further uptown. "Muscular" was the word that came to mind. And that only the spire gives its claim of great height.

The reflecting pools created out of the footprints of the Twin Towers were appropriate and allowed for peaceful reflection.

The museum was pretty intense. I didn't make it through. I reached a point of saturation at some point and just had to leave. Having spent over 2 and a half hours there and needing to meet someone for dinner also precipitated a hasty exit.

My sister-in-law summed it up with why she didn't want to go to the museum yet. Too soon. That's exactly it. Everyone who went through 9/11 and its ongoing aftermath knows everything there is to know about it.

I certainly didn't learn anything new, per se. But it was meaningful, albeit intense, to be in that space and around artifacts of that day. Important to note is that the museum is underground and built around the footprints of the former Twin Towers, now marked by the reflecting pools above, and by the preserved iron bases of the foundation columns below.

The preservation of the footprints above and below, I think, are all-important to attest where the buildings physically stood. Various exhibits now attest to what had been there before.

But I had to meet Liz at Katz's Deli at 5:30. Liz is a friend from high school and she's currently the person I've known the second longest in my life, family notwithstanding. We were on the track team together and we also dated for a short while.

I'm not sure what to say about Liz, except that she's good at keeping in touch with people and not carrying over baggage. We were just two old friends meeting up after a long period of time. Can't say there was a whole lot of meaning to it. Just two old friends meeting up to say hi.