Remembering Amy O'Doherty - 5 Years Later
Each September 11th, I force myself to pick away the scabs that formed on my psyche on 9/11/01. It's painful. It hurts. But reliving the emotions and experiences I felt on that day is the best reminder of why we must fight and win against the people who hate us simply because we love freedom. Thank God I did not lose anyone I know that day. And though I was scheduled to be on a plane to Chicago on 9/12/01, I was lucky not to have decided to start on my journey a day earlier.The thing I find that helps me best connect back is putting myself in the shoes of the people who found themselves in the Twin Towers that day. Or in the Pentagon. Or on one of the hijacked airplanes. What did they experience? What must have gone through their minds as they realized what was happening to them? What would I have done if it were me? These are impossible questions to answer, yet through this storytelling in my head, I am able to change the abstract numbers 9/11 into its meaning on a human level.This is why, when I found out about the 2,996 Project last week from Carol of planningblog, I knew I had to participate. The project consists of tributes to honor each victim of 9/11, each created by a different blogger and posted on September 11th. I was randomly assigned to write about Amy O'Doherty, who lost her life in the World Trade Center. When I first clicked on the site to get more information about her, I gasped because in the picture above, she looks almost like me. Another "there but for the grace of God go I" moment.
I had to do a lot of searching to find information about Amy, but here is her story:Amy O'Doherty grew up in Pelham, NY, and attended St. Bonaventure University in upstate New York, graduating in 2000. A professor there who had her in four classes said of her:
After graduating, she moved to New York City into her first apartment and worked for Cantor Fitzgerald, an international securities firm with offices on floors 101-105 of the north tower of the World Trade Center.
A profile in the New York Times read:
On September 11, 2001, Amy managed to place a call to her mother in the moments after the crash. But she and a thousand more of her colleagues were never heard from again.
This picture of a friend or family member searching for Amy in the days after breaks my heart. When we remember the people who were killed on 9/11, we also have to think about the thousands of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, other family members and friends whose lives were forever shattered that day. The victims number many more than 2,996.Amy was clearly loved by many. I will leave you with this heartfelt poem written in her memory by her friend Diane Huggins:
Just as the sunflowers you loved you were bright and cheery in every way,You loved your colleges and your job that was well displayed.You had a kind, generous heart that never strayed.You felt life should be savored not just lived from day to day.A master disciplinarian with both gentleness and firmness conveyed.You were always smiling and laughing just a beautiful person surveyed.You had a great sense of humor, upbeat so full of fun and play.You implanted heart prints on many hearts that love will never stray.Shopping for yourself and your mother was always a great thrill and okay.If mom Geraldine wanted something you indulged her without delay.You were happy when mom accepted your gifts, they were like beautiful bouquets.You were and forever are her precious daughter, a true gift of love so to say.Beloved sister to Maura you shared a close friendship so fine,you continue to guide her with your spirit of love that is very well defined.Loving daughter to James he misses the times you intertwined,He sees your love living on in each twinkling star that brightly shines. There is a beautiful star in Heaven that to him alone has been assigned.You live on in your family forever dwelling in their hearts and minds.you're their guardian angel and their greatest hero and gift divine.