I cannot believe it’s already twenty years since I landed at the Newark airport and made my dream come true. As it was yesterday, I still remember the smells and sounds of New York City, a warm breeze blowing through its streets and avenues, dinning in a trattoria or grabbing French fries to go, rollerblading from the Battery Park all the way to the Central Park, enjoying watching friendly squirrels and the liveliness of Washington Square Park. A walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, browsing Manhattan skate shops, and subway rides to and from Jersey City. Buying T-shirts, books, a Tony Hawk baseball cap, a NYPD hoodie, and other souvenirs. Buying a novel in a WTC bookstore. And all that thanks to my friend Lidija.
The day I visited New York City was September 11, 2000. The day I was supposed to celebrate my first anniversary never happened. Instead, the day of disbelief, shock and terror took its place on September 11, 2001.
Fourteen years later, after that sad and heartbreaking day, I officially went online and launched my website. Through bernardjan.com I wanted to make everything I wrote in Croatian and English available to everyone, to bring my stories closer to you. And to share what I love with those of you who appreciate it, because there is no greater joy for me than that. I launched my website on September 11, 2015.
A year after the launch of bernardjan.com, I opened my @BernardJanWorld Twitter account, and I haven’t stopped tweeted since. Not a single day has passed without me being active on Twitter. That happened on September 11, 2016.
On September 11 last year, I was removed from the register as the owner of my cottage in Tuhelj, which I had sold twenty days before.
These are my 911 loves and memories.
BJ
Please also read: 9/11 - My First Entry, 9/11 Through Time and Space, 9/11 Never Fades, My 911 Anniversaries and My 911 Anniversaries 2019.
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