Lori Mayo

I feel guilty writing about 9/11 since I wasn’t directly affected by it. September 11, 2001 made more fearful than I have ever been, and its effects are still with me. I saw what I thought was a small fire, from my office window, at the World Trade Center. Then I watched the tower collapse. I drove home from work, listening to the radio, and was hyper aware that no planes were flying.


I walked through Penn Station about a week after the terrorist attack, and saw armed guards all around me. I was reminded of the threat to our safety, and I began to panic. The ceiling felt like it was closing in on me. I can’t walk into Penn Station, to this day, almost ten years later, without feeling anxiety.

One of the biggest things that ever happened to me was having children. I guess that’s two of the biggest things. I’ve heard it said that when you have children it’s as if your heart is walking around outside your body. That is the truth. You know how bad you feel when somebody hurts your feelings? Multiply that by a hundred and you maybe have what you feel when your child is hurting. Maybe. But not quite. And when their pain goes away, and they’re happy again, you can finally breathe.