It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since the terrorist attacks on the United States.

It's a "where were you when you heard...?" day emblazoned in our memories forever.

We had a very personal contact with the World Trade Center's Twin Towers long before 9/11/01.

In our memory...we are transported back to a beautiful day when our daughter, Meredith, was seven.

To celebrate her first communion, we hosted a family luncheon at Windows of the World, the restaurant at the top of one of the two towers.

No view of New York City could match our glorious vantage point!

We were at the top of the world!

Our memories are then immediately jogged to remember, several years later, on 9/11, while on vacation, watching on television, the first plane hit the tower from our hotel high on a mountaintop in western North Carolina.

Knowing that our vacation was, at that very moment,  over...we grabbed our rental car and tried to head back to home base at WOR Radio in New York City.

Passing on I-95 outside of Washington, D.C at 8pm that night, we were met by a large neon sign stating that "NO entry into DC due to a major incident."

Major indeed.

We have never been so frightened by the implications of those words.

The heartbeat of our country closed?!

Days later, during a press tour of Ground Zero, the smell of death and destruction was palpable...a smell that we will never forget.

The incalculable sense of loss lingers with family, friends and all Americans as we remember those who perished as a result of that day...as well as our country's commitment to bring the transgressors to justice.

We had hoped that the sense of "oneness" as a family, as a country, that we all felt right after 9/11would last longer than it did.

To watch the current infighting over the preparations for this hallowed 10th anniversary sickens us.

Cross or no cross, religious ceremony or not, etc.

Let each of us remember the events and aftermath of 9/11 in our own personal way.

For us...the memory of a wonderful family celebration at the World Trade Center prior to 9/11...and the horror of those killed at Ground Zero.

Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the innocent Americans who are no longer with us except forever in our minds and our hearts.