It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years. I hate to be trite, but it is true that date both feels like a million years ago and like it was last month. I gave a lot of thought to how I wanted to mark the day this year, and I decided what I needed was a single person’s story. I didn’t want to post broad strokes or nameless losses. I wanted something more personal. This story is as personal as it gets.

Of course, there were many, many personal stories that ended on 9/11/01. But I think this one paints a particularly vivid picture. The author is retired NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Joe Fox, and the story is about his nephew, probie Firefighter Michael Roberts, and how the New York members of service, be they NYPD or FDNY, all came together to support each other during that unthinkable time.

Young Michael Roberts’s body was one of the few that were found and identified after 9/11. I’m glad his family got that peace that was denied so many families of the fallen.

You can read Chief Fox’s account of Michael’s wake and homecoming on his blog. Wishing his family and all the families who lost someone on 9/11 a peaceful 20th anniversary.