It's past 11pm herre and the ceremony in memory of those who perished in the 9/11 attacks finished a while ago. Fresh flowers have been left in the perimeter fence in honour of the dead, and there are two bright shafts of light emanating from the site pointing upwards to represent the missing Twin Towers.
I'm now sitting at an outside table of a nearby bar enjoying a glass of Californian Cabernet Sauvignon -- one of my favourite wines -- on a beautifully clear and warm late summer's night. I'm recollecting the night in 1986 when your grandma Veronica and I attended a wonderful party to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Statue of Liberty on the top floor of one of the World Trade Centre towers.
The party was at the Windows on the World restaurant looking down from the sixty-something floor out onto the water where we could see Lady Liberty illuminated and surrounded by hundreds of small boats. There was a fantastic firework display which lit up the harbour with the statue taking centre stage.
Being a keen photographer, I captured the spectacle on my Nikon cameras, using a tripod, which your poor grandma had to carry around. Veronica was nearly eight months pregnant with your father, but that didn't deter her from walking huge distances among crowds to enjoy the wonderful celebrations.
Those were the happiest of times. We'd been married just five years and were the perfect couple, thoroughly enjoying everything this great city had to offer and looking forward to the arrival of our first child.
Who would have predicted the terrible destruction of the Twin Towers some 15 years later? And we could never have envisaged the demise of our marriage just a few years later.
I hope that you will enjoy the views from the new towers that are now only beginning to rise from Ground Zero. By the time you are my age, those towers will be older than their predecessors. May they never suffer the awful fate of the original Twin Towers. And may you share such wonderful experiences as we did, with a loving partner.
Grandpa Jonathan
New York City, USA
