I'm baaaaaaaack... (After my visit to the Big Apple)

OMG!  It's been a few weeks and I've missed sharing with you.  It's been an incredibly busy time between work and going to NYC for vacation and my blogging has paid the price.  But, I'm back.  For this first blog back I thought I would share with you some details about my trip to NYC.

My nephew Peter was graduating from Cornell Med so Mom, Tom, and I went to the city to see Peter graduate.  I was born in NYC but grew up in Maryland.  After graduating from college I moved to NYC where I lived there for eight years and worked on Wall Street as an information technology consultant.  One of my clients was Dean Witter Reynolds in 2 World Trade Center.  My office was on the 42nd floor and I also worked with the traders on the 60th floor.

When Tom and I first spoke about the trip he wanted to visit the new World Trade but I told him that I wouldn't go.  It would be too painful.  When we got to the city Tom treated the three of us to a Circle Line boat ride around lower Manhattan.  From the water the redeveloped area looked really beautiful and I decided I wanted to see the site.

When I worked on Wall Street there was a subway station below the World Trade.  That doesn't exist any more so we got out at Vesey Street and walked from there.  From two blocks away we could see the new One World Trade Tower (the second tower has not yet been built).  It's a beautiful building--104 stories high.  Also dubbed the Liberty Tower, it is 1,776 feet high.  The original tower was 1,368 feet tall.

I remember sitting in my office in 2 WTC, feeling the tower sway in a high wind.  I worked with some very special people in that building.  I haven't had the heart to research if they were in the tower when the plane struck.  My boss, Ed Polito, retired not long after I left New York.  Other friends in the tower included Ellen, my best friend at the time, Michelle, one of the funniest women I've ever known, Jude, with whom I would go to off-Broadway shows, and Leigh, a kind woman who coordinated my work efforts toward the end of my time in NYC.  I choose to remember them as being the wonderful people they hopefully still are.

Walking down Vesey we were able to see the construction still going on.  Rounding 1 WTC we came upon one of two large fountains that memorialize those who lost their lives on September 11--including those in the Pentagon and on the hijacked flights.  My heart was breaking as I saw the beautiful memorial.  At first I didn't realize there were two pools.  I walked around the first fountain, touching the names and praying that I would not see any familiar.

We started heading over to Wall Street so I could show Tom other places that I worked and frequented when living in the city when we came upon the second fountain.  I didn't want to walk around this one.  I had seen no familiar names on the first fountain.  I was afraid my luck would not hold with the second.

The trip in general was wonderful and we got to add a new doctor to the family as well as see some of our New York cousins.  My cousin Joseph's daughter is a burgeoning artist and we got to see her display at an art show on the east side.

Even the trip home had fun surprises when the pilot let mom come into the cockpit during a layover in Las Vegas.  How much fun is that!

But it's good to be home and back to work.  On my next blog I'm going to do a "day in the life" and describe what it's like to run a caregiving agency.

Have a wonderful week and be well.  Many blessings to you always.

Laura Barish
AltaGolden


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