Amanda and Alex
My sister, Amanda Van Mecl, is on the left and I am on the right, Alex Van Mecl. We live in South Florida, and the photograph was taken in 1999 on our visit to Manhattan/Battery Park. We spent a full day at the World Trade Center, and took the visitor elevator to the 110 floor, the observation deck.
I clearly remember the feeling of being on top of one of the tallest buildings. It was thrilling, worrisome, intimidating but overall memorable. It was hard to witness the disastrous moments of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as I was recalling what it was like just two years before standing on top of one of the most special towering the sky of the New York landscape. Eleven years later, and all grown up, its saddening to know it no longer exists, and the presence of those who worked and visited in those towers exist only in our memories. But it was a very fond one that I explicitly remember enjoying with my family, who I can still gratefully have in my life.
