Three hundred forty three

Program from Tribute

 Last night, we attended a 9/11 tribute at a local fire station. It's something we've done before. We hope they decide to continue it each year. It's one way for the kids to understand what happened and how we were all so affected and touched. The kids were so little when 9/11 occurred they don't remember anything. Rose hadn't been born yet.

But they were old enough to remember their uncle showing them around Ground Zero when we were in New York last summer. Of standing where he stood when the things were happening. Of seeing where he was evacuating people. Of reading the various memorials for those first responders who lost their lives.

The tribute opened with a choir of bells playing while a slide show was shown choreographed to the music. An invocation was read then a recap of the day eleven years ago.

Next came the reading of the names. All 343 names of the NYFD firefighters who died on 9/11 were read.

 A luminary for each firefighter lost

This year they added the names of those on the flight crews of the four aircraft because one of the people who work for the fire station used to work for the airlines. Hubby and I appreciated this because we both worked for United. We also worked on the types of aircraft lost that day, the 767 and the 757. Hubby was in airframes. I was engines/propulsion.

Following the names, a presentation was made by a motorcycle group—a donation to the firefighter's widows and orphans fund and a granite statue that is being designed to mark 9/11. Then bagpipes played Amazing Grace. A haunting tune while the luminaries lit up the darkness.

We walked through the luminaries and read the names on some of them.

So much light. So much life snuffed out that Tuesday morning eleven years ago.