Memory of a mother and a father's words never forgotten

Seven years ago, as I sat watching the news, it was hard to believe that the images I was witnessing were real and not some Hollywood movie. The site of the airplane flying into the first tower and then the Twin Towers collapsing will be something I will never forget.

How do you overcome losing someone you love in such a horrible way? Through the years I have read many stories about how families have coped and they all have one thing in common.

The memory of their loved one is what they cling to and what helps them deal with their loss.

In The Right Words At the Right Time volume 2 a collection of essays assembled by Marlo Thomas, I read the story "The Boy at Ground Zero," written by Paul Keating.

Keating's mother was aboard American Airlines Flight 11, she was on her way home to California after her annual summer visit with Keating and his sons.

Three weeks later, Keating decided to go to New York City and visit Ground Zero. Family members were given a special pass and were escorted to a facility run by the Red Cross and the New York Mayor's Office.

For their short trip down the Hudson River to Ground Zero family members were accompanied by Red Cross counselors, a priest, two Coast Guard chaplains and escorted by guards from the New York State Police.

Also on the boat traveling with them was a man who appeared to be between 18 and 25 years old, but it was difficult to tell his age because he had Down syndrome. The volunteers traveling with the young man looked worried.

Keating found out the man's story from volunteers on the trip.

The young man's father had worked in Tower Two and the two met every day at 5:30 so they could go home together.

After the 9/11 attacks, the man would not accept that his father had died. His mother had repeatedly explained what had happened, but he would go to the same spot and wait until 6:30 every day.

He would say to all who would listen that, "My father is my best friend. He would never leave me."

Keating was in shock by the carnage he saw that day and by the knowledge that his mother was in there somewhere.

Watching this boy wait for his father moved him deeply, he cried for him and so did the support staff.

Over the years Keating had known kids like him - his mother had worked with people with Down syndrome for 10 years.

That day he reexamined his priorities and promised to be more like his mother. She had raised five children and spent her life helping the disadvantaged. He also promised to be more like that boy's father, who had given him so much love.

He will never forget the image of that beautiful boy, waiting for his best friend.

Maria Luisa Salcines is a freelance writer, certified parent educator and corporate empowerment consultant with The International Network for Children and Families in Redirecting Children's Behavior, Redirecting for a Cooperative Classroom, and Redirecting Corporate America. Contact her at her Web site at www.redirectingchildrenrgv.org.