We Remember

We Remember. We remember who perished. We remember who helped. We remember where we were. We remember how we felt. Good or bad, we remember.

At goodnewsforpets, we are quietly remembering the search dogs that helped. The New York City-based American Kennel Club honors this special breed of hero. We reposted Steve Dale’s Inside Ground Zero column and our beloved New Yorker, the late Mordecai Siegal’s Paw Prints in the Dust. In Canine’s Role in Search and Rescue, FEMA tells us how urban search and rescue dogs are now used.

On 9-11, I remember I was in my office at the Livestock Exchange Building in Kansas City. I was reconfirming a phone interview for a client with a New York City business reporter. My then three school-age children were – in school. And then the world changed for everyone.

Frantic phone calls to my mom who lived just blocks from the World Trade Center – and who loved to frequently go there and to nearby Battery Park. Finally connecting by email. She was safe – thank G — she and her neighbors helping the streams of people coming from downtown as best they could. Calling the reporter who thought the smoke would clear in a bit, and then with shaky voices abandoning our plans. I remember – I just wanted to get my kids and go HOME. We all did. Then, when I knew everyone in my family was safe, I wanted to come to my New York.

Now, on the 10th anniversary of that horrible day, I am in the New York City metro area. My mom has moved but has not forgotten. New York is still her beloved New York. There are loved ones of people where we live that did not come home. So many changes. And while the tributes and memorials come to a crescendo, there are conflicting emotions for New Yorkers who lived it – some want to remember, some do not. We all deal with it in our own way. We remember.

Lea-Ann O’Hare Germinder