Yahoo! is asking Americans how September 11 changed them. Below is an account from a reader.
My wife Trish and I were married October 13th, 2001 near Philadelphia. We are from Houston, and my wife has always been drawn to Manhattan and its energy. Being so close in Philly for the wedding, she chose New York City as our honeymoon destination, for a variety of reasons, one year prior. Then September 11th came, and people reevaluated their lives.
[Your story: How has September 11 changed you?]
Not Trish and I. We were going to Manhattan for our honeymoon and share our love with the New Yorkers. It was very difficult to see the carnage and suffering of so many, but we spent much of our first two days at and around Ground Zero. Many of our memories from trips past seemed to rush over us and calm some of the pain, but one in particular was troubling my wife.
The previous year, we both agreed to have a special dinner for two at the Top of the World restaurant in the WTC. We walked the lobby areas and the courtyard, but didn’t go up to the top, in anticipation of that special moment, but alas, it never came.
We still cherished our trip to the wounded city, and our thoughts turned to ideas of family and how precious and fleeting life can be. To our delight, three months later, Trish learned that she was pregnant, and on July 1, our daughter, Nicole Yvette Coyne, was born. She was featured in People Magazine’s September 11th one-year anniversary tribute issue as the centerfold picture. We feel that we were blessed enough to capture a little soul back from all that devastation, and in turn placed the initials “NYC” to her name to never forget.