This was my blog entry for today:

Today is the 5^th anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.  For my mom’s generations, the day they will always remember is the day JFK was shot – they will always remember exactly where they were when they heard the news.  For my generation, that is 9-11.  I will always remember sitting in a cement hallway at UWM outside my lab waiting for the TA to show up.  I will always remember the way the cold cement felt against my head when a student sitting next to me said she’d rather be sitting at home learning about the World Trade Center.  My first thought was that there was some Discovery Channel special about the towers.  Another student walked into the hall then, and announced that there was a 2^nd plane.  This was the moment I will never forget.

I will also never forget how eerie it was to be on campus that beautiful day with a clear blue sky and not a single contrail in the sky.  I will never forget how startled I was when I walked around the corner in the Chemistry building and came face to face with a policeman in full bomb squad gear.  I will never forget going home that afternoon when they closed the campus and watching the news with my parents, or how all of us watched in disbelief and cried together.  I will never forget my anger at the people that would intentionally rob our country of our innocence.  I will never forget my pride in my country in the weeks following the attacks.  The terrorists acts displayed the worst in humanity, but the way our country pulled together afterwards showed the best in humanity.

Today, as part of the 2,996 Tribute Project, I’d like to honor the memory of Ana Fosteris.  Ana was an insurance broker at Aon on the 103^rd floor of 2 World Trade Center.  Although she had a 2 hour commute from Long Island, she loved her job and the professional dress attire of city workers.  She was married to Michael Fosteris for 31 years.  They met and married in Romania, and moved to New York very shortly after.  The following is a quote from the New York Times: “The weekend before Sept. 11, the two were listening to Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’ and Mrs. Fosteris, who was 58, happened to mention that the ‘Ah, la paterno mano’ aria ‘would be the song she would like to have played for her at her funeral,’ her husband said. ‘It came out of nowhere.’  Oct. 30, Mr. Fosteris was accompanied by friends as he drove back from the memorial service at ground zero.  He said ‘We played the aria in the car.’”

Please remember Michael Fosteris and the rest of their family and friends in your prayers today.  Never forget.