I am a native New Yorker and I have to confess…When I lived there I did not fully appreciate everything that my town had to offer. I mean, I visited most of the major monuments on field trips when I was in grade school, but I never really took it upon myself to explore like I would if I were from another state. So now, every time I go home, I’m in full tourist mode. It’s kind of non-stop. Visiting family and friends, doing scheduled shoots, hopping on and off of public transportation, walking blocks and blocks to my destination and acting like a pure tourist can be pretty exhausting. But I figure I’ll sleep when I get back to my home here in Raleigh. This summer I visited NYC twice in the span of three weeks; both times for work. But in between working I told myself that I absolutely needed to do two things that I had been meaning to do for a long time; visit the 9/11 Memorial Museum and go to The Top of the Rock…and I did!

I went to the 9/11 Memorial Museum knowing that it would be difficult, but it was something that I felt needed to be done. I used to work in the immediate area of The World Trade Center and was down there on the day of the events. I worked in a law firm at 115 Broadway and my co-workers and I stood on Broadway watching everything unfold after we had pretty much been barricaded in the city. We watched the second plane enter the buildings as well as both towers collapse onto themselves. The Manhattan location of the firm closed shortly thereafter and I haven’t really been back in the area since. I knew that the visit would be emotional, but I had no idea how much.

I began to weep shortly after I got off of the train. Smh. 

I had to run into the bathroom to get tissue because of the tears. I thought it was strange that there wasn’t any tissue in strategic locations around the museum but then I soon realized that I was one of few who was a weeping mess. I took this selfie to cheer myself up and get it together. An entire sappy mess! Lol.

The survivors stairs.

I’m happy that I got an opportunity to visit the museum and memorial. I’m even happier that I ran into a good friend afterwards who could lift my spirits. The museum is nice, but it’s also a really heavy place, filled with memories of that day and the weeks that followed. Anything that you can think of regarding that day is there. Voice recordings, newspaper clippings and even some of the papers that poured out from the gaping holes in the buildings and into the sky. The memorial itself is beautifully done and pretty breathtaking when you come up on them. 

Then I ventured uptown to go to The Top of the Rock. Of course I was able to come across some kind of sub-level entertainment. She was really good!

I met up with my mom at her job and we strolled the city for a bit, venturing into Lord & Taylor and such. When we finally made our way to The Top of the Rock we were told that we needed to purchase tickets to go up…AND it was a 2 hour wait! I had gotten that far so I decided to stay, but I didn’t want my mom to be out too late so I released her from her duty to keep me company. Lol. So I just hung out, snapping pictures, watching people and window shopping at Anthropologie until it was time for me to go up.  I was tired and my feet were beginning to hurt, but whatever! I had to get my last shot.

And the last shot did I get! 

It took me moving miles away for me to really appreciate the complexities and dynamics my town. I experienced such a drastic range of emotions in this one day; from anticipation, to heaviness, to contentment, to happiness, to joy, to sheer delirium from exhaustion. New York is one of those places where you can experience all of those feelings. If you’ve never been, I encourage you to go! And if you live there, I encourage you to put the “NY way” to the side and be a tourist for a day. You never know what you’ll experience!