Editor’s note: A much-needed hug on 9/11 that I’ll never forget

I’ve not spoken much about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks after helping to cover them for the Daily News nearly a quarter of a century ago. I just don’t want to go there in my mind, to revisit the memory of seeing the second tower of the World Trade Center fall. That’s why I don’t watch documentaries or videos of that day. Instead, I catch the memorial services on TV, wondering how many New Yorkers like myself are doing the same. So many of us vowed “Never forget!” I don’t see those two words around the city so much any more.

Some anniversaries I pull out a memento of that day that was given to me by the first responders working the pile at Ground Zero. It’s a thick piece of glass, the size of a paperweight. Some responders collected these, most likely remnants of shattered windows, and engraved them with the date, “9/11.” Leading up to this anniversary, however, I decided to call Melissa Grace, my Daily News colleague at the time of the attacks who is now working with Rubenstein, the PR firm. Melissa’s was the first familiar face I saw after the towers fell. She randomly walked into a packed bar where I was sheltering with other New Yorkers. I was also her first familiar face. I’ll never forget how we hugged and cried.

I didn’t realize how much I needed to reconnect with Melissa and tell her she was my “9/11 buddy.” Buddies usually have fond memories, but not us. Instead, we’re bonded by a sad, but comforting embrace. At the time, we needed it more than anything.