Dear Reader
Originally published in The Times Herald-Record on Sunday, November 11, 2001

  September 11, 2001.
   Forever after, we will remember precisely where we were, what we were doing, when we first heard.
   Making breakfast. Watching TV. Working.
   Suddenly, all normal activity ceased. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Then another. What followed was a blur of disaster-movie images. Buildings collapsing. People running. Ashes raining down.
   In the days to follow, there would be other images. Mothers clutching photos of missing sons or daughters. Neighbors gathered to light a candle for hope. Children walking past rows of navy blue dress uniforms as their fathers were laid to rest.
   Across the mid-Hudson, the scenes played out time and again, as we mourned thousands including 63 of our own neighbors.
   And while the sorrow hasn't lessened in the days since, a growing fear has been added to it. Another terrorist attack. War. Anthrax.
   It's been two months since September 11, and the world is a very different place.
   And so we offer you, our readers, this chronicle of how our lives have changed, 62 days from Ground Zero.
   
   Laura Dolce
   Managing Editor

© 2001 Orange County Publications, a division of Ottaway Newspapers Inc., all rights reserved.