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on the World Trade Center in New York City, two Scugog women who were there. RING 9/11 MVAS® A. « “We thought it was armageddon, we H eath er Kn ie) p p: didn’t know what would happen next”. For 37-year-old, Heather Knopp, the stinging memories of September 11, 2001 will never fade away. A catastrophe that at the time she could only describe as “armaged- don” has forever changed the way she views the world and the way she lives her life. We all have lections of what has be ly referred to as “9/11”, but for Heather — who was living just blocks from the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed - the memory still haunts her to this day. With the 10th anniversary of the tragedy looming, Heather agreed to discuss the details and emotional aftermath of that fateful morning, despite the painful tug it permanently holds on her heart. Everyone who was there to witness the attacks has their own story, their own grief to deal with and their own demons to fight, Heather explains, but despite the despair and suffering, she says the unbelievable triumph of the human spirit is what truly resonates. “The humanity in people really came out,” Heather says, her eyes glistening with tears as she recalls the fleeting moments after the two towers had burned to the ground. “People were holding on to one another and stopping to help one another.” Without a doubt, she insists, her most vivid memory of the day was the walk home from her workplace in Manhattan, only 10 short blocks from the World Trade Center. Joining the slow-moving crowd of people leaving Manhattan, Heather made the long, emotional trek across the Brooklyn Bridge. She explained that the subway had shut down and the roads were blocked off, making walking her only option. Despite the shock and utter devastation of the events that had just unfolded, Heather says she'll never forget the sense of calmness that fell over the city. “It was so quiet, eerily quiet” she recalls. “You could hear sirens but once you crossed the water everyone was silent. We're all just moving forward. No one was talking. f Everything was at a complete standstill.” x Heather hardly recognized the city she had come to love and call home. “Everything was smothered in white ash,” she says, once again choking back tears. “New York was no longer a canvas of colours.” The bright lights, the vibrant people and the eccentric, exciting culture of New York - the city’s ‘canvas of colours,’ as Heather calls it - was what ini- a 5 tially enticed her to pack up and leave her family, friends and the comforts X \ ~ of home and move to the Big City — seven years earlier. re \ Born in Peterborough, Heather moved to Port Perry in her se- nior year of high school. Her striking features and obvious beauty suggested a career in modelling so at the age of 18 she entered a modelling competition, which had her travelling off to Los Angeles and, soon after, living in Paris and Greece. After living abroad for half a year, she returned to Port Please turn to page 34