Something, Nothing.

I was living in California and had not yet returned to college from summer break on Sept. 11, 2001. I was at my parent's house and slept in late. Eventually I got up and was reading the morning's paper while eating breakfast when I got a call from Lesley. The power was out in her neighborhood and she wanted to know if it was out where I was too? And did I think it had anything to do with the plane crashes?

What plane crashes? She told me to turn on the TV. She and her mom were in their car in the driveway listening to the radio, scared that the power outage was part of some sort of attack on California.

Close to a decade later it feels very strange to visit the home of a future memorial. For now, the World Trade Center Memorial doesn't feel like much more than a construction site. The absence of a structure does not have the same emotional impact that I thought it might.

There is simply nothing, where there once was something. Large banners explain that someday soon, there will be something to commemorate the something that was there before.