Kimberlee Sword Delany, a Nesquehoning native,was living in New York City and working across the street from the World Trade Center when the terrorist attacks occurred on Sept. 11, 2001.

As I watched the parade of “first day of school” pictures floating across my Facebook newsfeed it occurred to me, we are graduating people who were too young to remember Sept. 11, 2001; and those who come after them were not yet born. Funny, it seems like yesterday to me, but I guess it isn’t.Fifteen years is a long time, and for many of us Sept. 11, 2001, is a day we can recite like lyrics to our favorite song. We can accurately recount every minute of that day, the names of the people we were with, the clothes we had on, and the feelings we had as the day wore on.We most likely can’t recall the days the followed, as for many of us they were a blur. No sleep, routine shattered, scattering trying to keep our place of employment humming and to keep our minds busy.For the past 10 years this week in September has been extremely difficult for me. On Sept. 7, 2006, I lost my father to cancer; and on Sept. 11, 2001, he thought we was losing his little girl to a terror attack. I vividly remember walking into work at around 8:40 a.m. in lower Manhattan and not even sitting down yet when I heard someone say a plane hit the World Trade Center. I replied, “That can’t be, I was there only a few minutes ago.”What I didn’t know was I was on one of the last PATH trains to get out of the World Trade Center. The first thought among my colleagues was someone flew a small plane into the building.As the events began to unfold my desk phone rang and it was my father. He knew, in real time, it was a terror attack. He knew the name Osama bin Laden, and I had no clue. My father always just “knew” stuff. He instructed me to leave work, and I will never forget my reply, “I can’t, Daddy, I have nowhere to go.”Yes, my dream city, the place I always wanted to work, was, in fact, an island. I said, “I love you” and suddenly wondered if that was going to be the last time I spoke to him. The first building fell and shook our building like a massive earthquake.Smoke or sootstarted coming into the windows.My co-workers and I started to wet whatever we could find and shove it under the door as we exited to the interior hallways.Lights were flashing, sirens howling and there we sat, maybe 40 people, in silence. Funny, during those drills they could never shut us up. We would all head to the hallway, find our friends and start chatting.On Sept. 11, 2001, no one spoke. We just went to the hall and sat down. In that hallway we held hands and prayed. All colors, religions, ages together we prayed. Some cried.Most just sat in shock. Then, we moved to another floor, and we braced ourselves as the second building fell. While New York is a big city, when you work there it becomes a small town. Meaning, you know a lot of people. You commute with the same people every day and you get to know these people.Your neighbors most likely work there. People from your church most likely work there. And, they most likely either work in, or travel through, the World Trade Center. When this realization hits you it takes the wind out of your lungs, and you panic.Over the years I have watched the cleanup and I have watched the ongoing construction of that site. Constantly diverted, constantly late, constantly reminded. New Yorkers are a resilient bunch, they adapt and they move forward. I am proud to say I was a New Yorker. Now, I’m a Texan and I never got to see the finished memorial until this August.My husband, Rodger, and I visited New York and spent the day at the Sept. 11th memorial. It was surreal to walk through exhibits that recalled a day I remembered so vividly.I walked through and I cried. I cried as I listened to recordings of people frantically trying to call their loved ones, and I thought of my daddy. I cried listening to the heroes talking to dispatch telling them they were heading up while people were running down.I couldn’t help but think remember the heroes. Remember the men and women who gave their lives to save someone else’s. Remember the feeling of unity our nation felt as people from all over the country came to assist in the days and weeks that followed. The mantra was, “we will never forget.” Yes, let’s not forget we are all one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.