We Don't Just Remember....We'll Never Forget...

Now that this summer is about to be forgotten and the anniversary of 9/11 looms in the very near future, I have time to think back again....

I am one of the people who actually KNEW someone who died on 9/11...My former neighbor's son-in-law Peter was in Tower 1...Peter was more then just my former neighbor's son-in-law, he was also my friend...He came into my life through Mary, my neighbor's daughter, when she first started her romance with him (which led to their marriage and eventually 2 children) back in the early 1980's...Their wedding day (as the Priest said in his opening remarks) was "a day they would not easily forget"...See, they both worked for financial institutions in NYC and they decided to wed over President's Day weekend, February, 1981...That would give them extra time for their honeymoon in Alcapolco, Mexico...Well, being the Northeast and being Long Island and being that a nice "N'or Easter" had blown in the night before, it made for an exciting challenge for all of us...Long Island was blanketed with 23"of snow from the afternoon and night before...That week had been particularly cold...The temperatures barely made it out of the teens most days...I had had a feeling that we were going to get a heavy snow storm and sure enough we did...I struggled the day before the wedding to get home from my office not 10 miles away, while the storm raged on...It took my husband almost 10 hrs to get home from what was normally a 45 minute drive in heavy traffic...We were to learn that we were the lucky ones...Peter with his whole family in tow had came over from New Jersey which was not getting THE storm...They were going to stay at the local Holiday Inn...Mary, the bride was near hysteria, so dear Peter decided to brave the cold and the snow to get to his beloved...Unfortunately his car went into a snow bank and was trapped there just 4 blocks from Mary's home...But Peter HAD to get to Mary...So he left his car and walked the 4 blocks to be with her, soothe her, calm her down...He left her about midnight and walked back 5 blocks to stay the night with her Aunt and Uncle who lived nearby...

The next morning, we discovered our cars BURIED in snow...We were to take Mary's Aunt Alice to the church and then on to the reception with us...Mary's Aunt Alice is a big lady...She stands 5'11" and probably a good 200 lbs...An old timey Army nurse who had all the piss and vinegar of the Bird Colonial she had been and who had been married to the NYC Police Surgeon who had removed the bullet from Serpico's face was all a twitter as she told us...She fully intended to belt back more then "a few" at the reception...We ended up in my husband's Volkswagen (which seemed made for this kind of snow) with Alice filling the back seat...I remember watching her crawl on her hands and knees over the snow bank in front of her house and disappear inside after we had returned from the reception....Her lights never came back on again that night...

We did make it to the church and so did the bride, but not in a limo as planned, but in the back of her brother-in-law's station wagon...At the church we found no red carpet waiting for the bride, no photographer (we all had our cameras at the ready), no organist either to play Ave Maria (the Priest asked us to hum it, which we did)...Her god mother, Geraldine had gotten up at 4 am, packed a suitcase with her gown and shoes, climbed into a heavy winter coat, ski pants, boots, scarf and gloves and hoofed it up to the LI railroad station...She was able to catch a diesel train as the electric was out and they were the only ones running...By 9 am she had made it to within a few miles of the church...Being a "city" lady she was used to walking...As she walked along one of the main roads, a car stopped and asked where she was going and did she need a ride?...She told the man and he was able to get her within a block of the church since the roads hadn't been completely cleared...Geraldine made it on time...

We found that at the catering hall (which had wanted to postpone until the following week, and which Mary was NOT having, since she was leaving for her honeymoon the next morning and then promptly moving to NJ) was trying its best to put on a good "show"...There wasn't a band (they were stuck at the end of LI), so we brought someone's stereo in and a bunch of records (you know, 12" vinyl CDs <wink>)...The meal was not bad, but the cake was from the wedding that had gotten cancelled from the night before...It was decorated in lovely orange, green and yellow flowers to match THAT bride's colors...Mary's was deep burgandy and gold...There was something about the waiters also, oh they didn't have uniforms only their street clothes and snow boots...One of the couples sitting at our table mentioned that the man's father was lost in the storm...They hadn't heard from him yet...They looked worried and anxious all day...I came across a picture of my late husband and myself recently from the wedding...There were icicles hanging from the green trees behind us and snow on the branches...I won't ever forget that day...

As the Priest said, a day they would never forget...

9/11... another day we won't forget, either...

Peter worked on the 81st floor of the North Tower or Tower 1...It was the first tower hit...The second tower to go down...The plane that hit that tower pretty much killed Peter outright...His wife, Mary never heard from again after he had left for work...By early afternoon we all "knew"...If he had any last thoughts, I'm positive they were of Mary and their children...

Peter was working in the South Tower the first time the WTC was hit by terrorists in 1993...He had made it out safely then...

In between those times and after their wedding and their moving to New Jersey, there were babies born (first a daughter Laura and then a son Matthew) who are teenagers now...There were christenings we attended in New Jersey, Christmas Eves at Mary's mother's across the street...July 4th picnics through the years...My son's Jr High graduation, my father's funeral and finally my husband's funeral...Back and forth...All interwoven in the spider web of life...

Rest in Peace, dear friend, I won't forget....You, along with all the others that came before you and those after, you are in God's loving arms...I know you're safe now...

Pamedejour