Days after 9/11 I traveled to New York to work with the Red Cross and ended up volunteering at Ground Zero.

I can honestly say I was never the same after being there.

On September 11th Mamalode will be featuring my story, but here in the coming days I am going to post some lead up to it.

I often have trouble putting my experiences into words during this worst time of the year.

I want to begin with sharing something that I have kept to myself all these years.

These two rocks were wedged into my shoes when I got home from Ground Zero that day.  I have held tightly to them ever since.  Other than my family, they are the first thing I would save in a fire.