remembering...

credit: Thomas E. Franklin, [Photo: 2001 The Record (Bergen County, N.J.) Thomas E. Franklin]

It has been 10 years since 9/11 but I'm sure each of us remembers what we were doing when the planes crashed into the World Trade Centers.

Marigold Design didn't exist in 2001. I was working for a small agency and happened to be home that morning working on concepts and sketches for a new project. I remember getting a call from one of the designers telling me to turn on the television because America was under attack. As I watched the second plane crash into the building, I remember thinking that all of our lives were about to change and that America would never be the same.

My daughter was in college at the time and I remember wishing I could scoop her up in my arms at that moment and bring her home because I wanted my family safe in their own home, protected from this evil that was happening around us. 

I remember thinking about the parents who had children, friends and spouses working in the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon or were on the plane that crashed in PA—I cannot even begin to imagine what they went through or what it was like for the people that died that day.

I remember thinking about my parents that day. If they were alive, they would have been devastated to see their country under attack. Like most immigrants, they were forever grateful for what America gave to them, especially their freedom.

And I remember thinking how proud I am to be an American, to live in the "land of the free" where people gain strength from one another and come together when tragedy hits.

God bless America and those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

We will always remember...