Today is week 42 of #TWmemorymondays, and I'm doing this right before I leave California! I've been home for the past couple of days for my sister's baby shower. It's been SO good and restful. I really really needed to just get away and sleep in every morning, because - the past two weeks...enough said.
Going through a family vacation album from 2001 triggered a memory that I think is fundamental in my development and one that I remember SO vividly. Swipe to see photos of us on the deck of the World Trade Center.
In July/August of 2001, my family went on a Canadian and east coast vacation/your. I was 12 yrs old - braces, ultra self conscious (especially about my clothes), but also feeling grown up and had a certain confidence. We visited the world trade center, and I was bored. It was just a tall building with alot of business people in it. So fast forward to a couple weeks later.
I woke up pretty early in the morning. It was still dark, and I could hear my dad getting ready for work in another part of the house. I was in the top bunk, and I could hear my sister sleeping in the bottom bunk. And I had this feeling in my gut that something was very very wrong. I just laid there awake. And then I heard my dad rush to wake up my mom...and then he came to our room, woke us up, and told us to hurry into the living room where the TV was. It was still really dark. The first attack just happened, and then we watched the second one. My mom was crying and we all couldn't believe what was happening.
You all probably have your own memories of 9/11. 💔
So suddenly that visit to the world trade center just a couple weeks before, became so significant. I was reminded to be as present as I can. It’s also so great that my parents haven’t moved from my childhood home - so coming home always bring back so many memories that are almost preserved in the location. Like I’m writing this in the same place where my bunk bed was on 9/12.
See you all back in Chicago!
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#TWmemorymondays: A painting inspired by a memory every Monday of 2018. Connecting abstract art to real life. Week 42/53. 'Towers' / 8x8 in / mixed media on paper