September 11, 2009

The ad agency where I have been working since April in a great job as senior copywriter is located downtown in a tall building near the World Trade Center. You might remember hearing during the spring about a 747 flying around downtown Manhattan causing buildings to be evacuated. I was there for that scare which turned out to be a misguided White House photo shoot.
The office overlooks Ground Zero so on Friday I could see far below the ceremony for the eighth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. A circular reflecting pool had been built in remembrance, and family members were allowed to surround the pool in small groups. It was raining all day, and round black umbrellas covering the mourners echoed the shape of the reflecting pool.
(photos from Reuters)

We were busy working on a presentation but I paused twice to look down below at the memorial. It was sad. The dark rain made it seem like the sky was crying.

At the end of the day I was called into the human resources department and told that my work had come to end due to the business climate. They said they would call me again when things picked up. Twenty minutes later I was on the sidewalk going toward the subway station carrying a few personal items in a paper shopping bag. It was still raining.