PHOTOS: Remembering 9/11 in Lacey

Flags line the streets of Lacey Road and Route 9.

As you proceed through the busy intersection and continue down Route 9 North, you get the sense that its life as usual. Everyone is on their way to some place — home, a meeting, lunch, and work. Just as those who were in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, some living life as usual for the very last time.

But as you reach the Lanoka Harbor Fire Department, life seems different. The air seems sweeter, the wind fresher, the scene historic.

Time stands still as I peer at the piece of bent steel, uniting a replica of the two Twin Towers.

There’s a piece of history in Lacey; a piece of each individual who lost their life on that dark day or thereafter.

Just 86 miles away, the towers came crashing to the ground. I was 22 miles away, in the sixth grade. Band class to be exact. Time stood still then too.

I didn’t understand what was unfolding but knew it was significant. As I sit here, before the piece of steel, I understand its significance but at the same time, can barely fathom that this beam lay in the rubble amongst the ashes of Americans.

I taste the sweeter air and the fresher wind, touch the steel and get a chill, remembering the lost, the heroes and all those in between.