Love transcends
"Driving along the West Side Highway, the Freedom Tower and lower Manhattan came into view. Just then, I realized I was crying. Tears were streaming down my face but it wasn't me who was crying. Not sure what was happening, I said to Andy, "Oh my God, look at me. I'm crying. This is so weird. It's not me crying but I'm crying." The feeling was overwhelming. Tears were streaming down my face as if they were someone else's tears. I remember saying I felt like I was home, that I was going home. What the hell did that even mean? This was to be just the beginning. We tried to make sense of what was happening. Tried to dig deeper and figure out where it was coming from. It diminished a bit as we drove on.
We found a garage to park in just up the street and started walking toward the site. We were across the street when I began having trouble breathing. I didn’t think anything of it at first. Maybe it was because it was a different climate than I was used to. Maybe it was something in the air. Who knows? My chest was hurting with each step closer and it felt as if the world was closing in on me. It was like I was breathing in something toxic and it was asphyxiating me.
We finally made it onto the grounds. The South Tower was where we headed first and just stood there for a few moments. For some reason, we decided to forego the South Tower and something pulled us in the direction of the North Tower. As we approached it, I began to struggle with my breathing even more and I could feel the heaviness getting worse in my chest. Andy noticed something was wrong. “I can’t breathe,” I said. “My lungs feel like they’re burning. I can’t breathe. Watch me, just watch me.” I was really worried about how I was feeling. Then I heard the voice. It was a name; two names…Janet, Jeanette. I heard it several times. Then I saw her face like she was standing in front of me, but she wasn’t there. She pointed at the tower and said, “I left my family here. I left my family here.” I could see the look of despair on her face. It was disturbing.
That took the wind right out of me. What the hell just happened?" (to be continued)
- Excerpt from the upcoming book "Soul Stirrings"