Dec 27, 2006 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Children Of 9/11: Letters To Loved Ones
by Larry Mendte
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
September 11, 2001, a day that still haunts our national psyche
When the Twin Towers disappeared from the New York skyline, 2,795 people disappeared with them, but they weren't the only victims.
There were thousands more, the living victims who had to cope with losing a loved one, many of them children who lost a mother or father.
Five years later, Sydney Chirls, who lived in south Jersey when terrorists struck, wrote a letter to the mommy she lost when she was only 10.
Mazurka in A minor, Chopin's haunting opus to loneliness, has been the soundtrack to 15-year-old Sydney Chirls' life ever since that day that terrorists took her mother's life.
Catherine Chirl was on the 105th floor when American Flight 11 hit the north Tower and shook the world. Since then, Sydney's father has done his best to raise her and her two brothers in their Brooklyn brownstone, but sometimes a young girl needs to talk to her mom, so she does just that in the letter.
Syndey reads:
"Dear Mom,
It has been five years since I've seen your face or given you a hug or even told you how much I loved you. Whenever I remember that day when I lost you forever, it still makes me burst into tears.
"Although I'm only 15-years-old, I know that know that 9/11 will always be the hardest day of my life, no matter what happens. Thinking of you gives me hope and every memory makes me smile. You were the most amazing mother in the entire world and my ten years getting to know you were my most cherished.
"I regret every moment that I didn't appreciate you and it saddens me to know that I can never make it up to you. I hope that someday I can make you as proud to be my mother as I am to be your daughter. And please know that I will love you forever, miss you for always and that as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be.
"Love, Sydney."
The memories of 9/11 are painful, but they must not be forgotten.
CBS 3 is an official media partner of "9/11: A Nation Remembers."
The exhibit is open through New Year's Day at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
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