Funny, its one of those days, isn’t it—where it comes in and out of your consciousness. Your head. The anniversary. This morning—with my friends. It was all about that. And then I forgot all about it. Then, it’s back…

Sweet and Sad, Richard Nelson

This is always a difficult day to remember and acknowledge for many reasons. For the loss of human life. The loss of the way of life—a more carefree time. For the loss of childhood. I didn’t lose anyone close to me but for me, like many others, my life changed forever.

I am a New Yorker. My parents met at Windows on the World. My father worked at the Pentagon on 9/11. I was eleven years old. I didn’t know that he wasn’t there that day. He had gone to an anti-terrorism conference and wasn’t there. It took him almost a week to get home.

There are many other things to say about this day, but they are for others to say.

The playwright Richard Nelson wrote a series of plays about the Apple family of Rhinebeck and Manhattan. Each play has touched me in a particular way. This one was written about the Apples on the tenth anniversary of September 11th. Richard, the brother, lost friends and colleagues. In the quote above, he shares the disconnect of the day—the way it affects him then. It’s something I recommend reading. It’s a work of art that touches me deeply.