09/13/2026
We will never forget, and I’ve enjoyed reading the many posts from others remembering 25 years ago. In 2001, this building at 130 Barrow Street was our home, and our apt had an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center not far away. On Sept 11, 2001 we weren’t home…my partner Miguel and I had arrived at JFK just the evening before and instead of coming back to our apartment had gone to my family’s home in Connecticut (I had recently lost both parents and also just ended a 16-year career in finance in favor of becoming a real estate broker, the plan was to prepare the family home for sale and head back to NYC to get my license). Early on 9/11/01 I dropped Miguel at the Westport MetroNorth station to commute into NYC to work and returned to the house: As if yesterday, I remember being arms deep in a bucket of cleaning water, scrubbing the refrigerator, and the phone ringing with the news none of us will ever forget….it was Miguel’s sister calling, asking me if I’d heard from Miguel (she couldn’t reach his office phone), or seen the news. At first my brain couldn’t fathom what she was telling me, that it must’ve been a small plane hitting the tower by accident (the idea it was a hijacked commercial airliner was just impossible to accept). I remember phone service was totally jammed and I couldn’t reach Miguel, all I could do was watch the horrifying images on my TV screen. I remember desperately struggling to make sense of what I was seeing (in my crazed mind I couldn’t believe I wasn’t just watching a sci-fi movie or “when it’s all over maybe the buildings could be repaired”, or “one tower collapsed but maybe the other could be saved”). I eventually reached Miguel and he made it back to Connecticut but 3000 people tragically perished that day. We eventually moved back to 130 Barrow St but I would never again see those gleaming beacons of a magical city from my living room window or feel the sense of invincibility in my city (or country) again. We all lost so much but I will never forget
