When I was 8 years old for my first communion, I asked if I could be taken to the World Trade Center as a gift from my parents. The feeling of being so small and being up so high sent butterflies threw my stomach.

In 1998, after the first World Trade Center bombing there was an anti-violence charity fundraiser called Giant Steps. It was a run up the stairs of the World Trade Center. I was part of the volunteer committee composed of fitness instructors. One of our jobs was to do a test run up those very stairs. What I discovered was, the stairwells were quite a labyrinth. There was no ONE direct stairwell all the way to the top. There many stairways and not one of them extended the full length of the Towers. After the bombing, I was told the stairways and building exit strategy were reconfigured.  

If in the event of a fire and one stairway was blocked, an evacuation would be halted. Thus every 33 stories, you had to exit the stairs, enter the hallway, follow the emergency path painted on the floor to the next stairway and make your way up or down. It was a tricky run to navigate.

Once at the top, we were greeted with water and exchanged notes about how to make the event run smoother from an organizer perspective.  No one ever imagined these stairs would be used for a real emergency. Again, I was blown away by the views. I also remember telling the WTC operations staff how lucky they are to be gifted this view of the world each and every day. This was my last time at the top of the World Trade Center. I took the occasion in mentally. I didn’t take any pictures. I never considered that I would never have another a chance to visit.
- Erwin