Remembering

It was going to be a lovely, late-summer day. The weathermen promised blue skies, temps in the high 70's. Alarm clocks around town began to wake the weary, letting them know it was time to begin the Monday through Friday routine again - shower, dress, maybe some time for breakfast or, at least a cup of coffee, kiss the spouse and kids good-bye, and head out the door to begin their commute; some by car, some by bus and some, even by ferry. Thirty-seven residents of my town headed to the train station for the 80 minute trek into NYC. Within hours, they were all dead.
September 11, 2001. Nothing in our past could have prepared us for what happened that day. My town, Middletown, lost more residents that day than any other town. The morning of 9/12, one couldn't help but be aware of the cars still in the station parking lot, waiting for the people who drove them there the previous morning.
To remember these residents and give those left behind a place to reflect and perhaps find some comfort, Middletown designed a memorial garden. The memorial features a landscaped walking path with individual memorials for each resident lost, where visitors can reflect about the loss Middletown suffered. Here are a few photos I took during my last visit there in July.