“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Lucy! Happy birthday to you!” lucy’s dad and sister were sitting at a table, in the middle a vanilla cake. It was Lucy's birthday and they were celebrating it with her.
It’s been 15 years since the 9-11 attacks, 15 mom-less birthdays. Tired, Lucy went to bed looking forward to seeing her aunt the next day, she was like her second mother now. The next day she went straight to her aunt's bakery catching a ride on the subway. Walking into the bakery the colors and aromas enchanted her. Lucy leaned up onto the marble countertops peeking behind the window, not seeing her aunt. she rang the service bell and slid into a booth waiting for her aunt to come out of the kitchen. Lucy stared out of the window, she had the perfect view of the one world trade center, the other one has not been built yet. The longer she stared the deeper she felt. feelings of sadness, grief, and even anger overcame her. Why was she not a victim of the attacks? She was supposed to go to the underground mall that day! A single tear fell onto her cheek.
“You can’t change the past” 
Lucy surprised turned her head to see aunt Sophie sitting across from her.
“How long have you been sitting there?” Lucy asked.
“You’ll never know!” aunt Sophie answered, making jazz hands at her. They both chuckled. 
“Ok, now wait here and close your eyes,” Sophie said walking back into the kitchen. Lucy heard her come back out.
“Now open your eyes…” she said. lucy did as she was told.
“Happy Belated Birthday!” she shouted! In front of her was a three layer cake. Vanilla too! her favorite!
“Thank you!” lucy stood up embracing her aunt in a hug.
They both sat down and began to eat as much as they could, which was certainly not a lot. Strolling back into the kitchen, they bagged up the rest so she could take it home.
“Now, what’s wrong?” Aunt Sophie Questioned.
“What do you mean?” Lucy asked right back.
“Well, you were crying at the table when I came out for one.”
“Oh…. I don’t know I still don’t think I’m used to things without my mom quite yet”
“Hmm, I might have something…” she dashed under the
counter, a minute later there was a huge clatter. Lucy saw little cards sprawled out everywhere.
Immediately, she rushed over to help her aunt pick up the little pieces of paper. A second later, she realized they were business cards.
“what are these for?” she asked.  her question was answered as Aunt Sophie handed her a card. on the card, it had a name, a phone number, and an address. As she flipped the card over in bold print she saw 2 words, emotional therapist. 
“Wait for what! why are you giving this to me?” Lucy said
“It seems you're having trouble with your emotions and 15 years later still feeling guilty and angry about what happened that day”  Aunt Sophie replied “ it's not normal”
“I have to go”  Lucy stormed out of the bakery and made the next train. She stared out the window on the train seeing the trees and vegetation flyby. what if Aunt Sophie was right, is it normal? She wondered.
  later that night she lay down in bed, But was not able to fall asleep. she slid out of bed and sat in front of the computer,  thoughts were zooming through her head. She typed in the name on the business card into the search box typing letter by letter, one by one. Her website popped up right away. She scheduled an appointment for that Thursday at 4:00. After getting that taken care of she could finally drift off to sleep.

Lucy woke up the next morning feeling fresh as a daisy just the way she liked it. She likes to get up at the same time every day and keep the same routine a different time clock for each job she had to do. Soon she was ready for work and had it off. this is how her life ran and it continued like this for the next couple days leading up to her appointment. Remembering she had an appointment at 4 Lucy headed straight there after getting off work at 3:15. As she strolled into the waiting area the room was decorated in very positive feeling things end objects. I mean come on how much happier can you get then a room decorated with smiley faces all over the walls. it made her smile, which was probably what it was meant to do.
“Hi, I'm Lucy Brakers I'm here for my 4:00 appointment”
“Okay”, said the receptionist, “Just fill out this paperwork and we should be with you in about 20 minutes”
Lucy sat down, filling out the stack of papers it was exhausting. finally after about 17 minutes which seems like forever a man with dark brown hair and a white dr.’s coat opened the door…
“Lucy Brakers?”
“Yes,”  she said standing up.
“come right with me” the doctor replied.
“I’m Dr.Straggatoni”
“Hello,” Lucy greeted.
As they entered their room it was very simple and nice looking, but in a way intimidating. Wood floors, gray ceilings, and walls, one shelf in the room with a potted plant. In the middle of the room lay a lounge chair that you could prop up the head part to whatever height you would like, but there weren't exactly straps that lay across it like most lounge chairs were, but the whole thing was completely solid. Along one of the walls lay a small white desk that was submerged in a ton of papers and pens.
“Please take a seat”, Dr.Straggatoni requested.
Lucy did as told.
“ Now, please explain what you are having trouble with”
“Well, I'm not really sure, honest” lucy replied but after thinking for a minute.
“Actually,  I do know”
“Please explain then”
“15 years ago,  if you remember were the 9/11 attacks that day my mom and I had planned on an outing to the underground mall underneath the towers, but instead I chose to visit my nearby aunts Bakery.  not long after I was dropped off everything started to happen the screaming, the Dust, and the planes. And after all this time my mom's death it's still affecting me in my everyday life I guess”
“I see”, the doctor said scribbling down some notes.
“What other family members do you have that are living?”
“My dad,  my sister,  and my aunt.  if you're talking about immediate family.”
“Okay,  are you free tomorrow, same time?”
“Yes”, she said.
“I’ll look forward to seeing you then, and i’ll have your results”, he said leading lucy out the door.

A day had passed and Lucy decided to walk to the therapist instead of driving, after all, it was only around 2 miles away and after living in New York as long as she had, you got used to walking that much. When she arrived it was very similar to the day before, minus all the paperwork lucy had to fill out in the waiting room. Eventually, a woman called Lucy in through the other doorway to a different room. Now, this room looked more like a doctor's office just the average one. After being told to take a seat she waited for about 15 minutes, up until Dr.Straggatoni walked in.
“Hello, Lucy”,  he greeted her with a smile on his face.
“ I reviewed your notes it was just me and a few colleagues.  well, I came to the conclusion that you're simply feeling guilty. this hat taking me awhile to figure out though if you were not showing any symptoms of feeling guilty like any normal person would. you filled out on the paperwork yesterday about how you like to keep her morning routine, for example, will guilty people usually have a tendency to you snooze you lose, literally.” Lucy thought for a minute after what he said. Now that she thought about it she did feel guilty,  it was deep down inside and anger at herself.
Lucy quickly rambled on, “is this like some sort of sickness, a disease? can I get rid of it!?”
The doctor lets a quiet laugh slip out, “ in a way I guess it could be thought of that, but technically no, it's more of a mindset or a feeling.” Lucy pondered in that.
“Now to get rid of it,  might take some time till you're finally feeling full again.  I would recommend joining some sort of club,  group,  or activity that incorporates doing what you love, with a group of friends you can meet with.  if you don't have time for that maybe just a job that interacts with people every day.
“Yeah”, Lucy said enthusiastic about this, “ I could quit my job in the office now and work for my aunt,  and I heard of this Travel Group whose meeting place is in this area.”
“That sounds great! I’m glad you're taking some initiative for this some people just don’t care.” Dr.Straggatoni replied.
“Thanks!”
“I’ll see you in a month to check up on how you're doing.”

Lucy was searching through newspapers, it’s a relaxing activity she liked to do for fun. She wasn’t really looking for anything until she spotted a coupon, $5.00 off admission fee! Sounded like a good deal to her. She stared at what it was for. The 9-11 museum in NYC! She wasn’t sure how she felt a rush of emotion waved over her from the ends of her hair to the tip of her toes. she felt like this ad was placed there on purpose like she was meant to go. And of course, Lucy enjoyed reading the fine print in things, knowing things other people did not. She squinted her eyes immensely trying to make out what the minuscule word was saying, blah blah blah blah expiration date blah… wait, expiration date? She rolled her eyes back over it expired in two weeks, and it was decided that she would visit next weekend. She glanced over to the other connecting ad, Amber Quinn Jewelry. She paid no attention to it.

As the week went by, lucy was anticipating her visit to the museum. After what seemed like an eternity,  Friday arrived,  followed by Saturday.  Saturday afternoon, Lucy walked out and started her car to head for the museum. She turned on her phone and typed in the location of the museum on her GPS.  she had always had a problem with remembering where places were even to go to the nearest market she had to use her GPS. After a short drive to the city, Lucy arrived at the museum.  it looks kind of old and broken down from the outside a couple stray bricks actually lining the space outside. is she tried to open the door she noticed it was kind of stuck should pull little before it would finally open.  despite what the cover of this Museum might look like the inside this totally remodeled and modern.  huge banners with information about 9-11 were posted everywhere. she walked up to one right by the door and started to read it. “the outside of this building may not look like the place you would like to visit but we have changed it on the inside to make it a place you will.  you made me wonder why all other buildings are nice and new but ours isn't.  being 9-11 Museum has many responsibilities,  but none and any higher position then restoring the outside of this building to its original state and keeping it that way as a little token of remembrance. some other things that were  scavenged up Are on a  ginormous wall around the middle of the museum.” Now her mindset was totally different about this building it had actually survived that day just like her.
She walked over to the admission desk.  “$15 dollars please,” said the desk administrator in a monotone voice.  she handed over her money, got a ticket, and walked in.  it was your average Museum full of information and pictures maybe even real objects squared away in glass boxes to be sure that they were kept like their original state.  she continued through.  essentially like the first Banner said, she reached a wide expanding, wall.  it wasn't only filled with things that they unburied from the rubble covering the city,  but missing posters for people who may or may not have been found.  Lucy scanned these posters end a familiar name stuck out at her. Amber Quinn.  it looked like a young girl maybe in her late teens,  she had long thick dark brown hair, and to green eyes. How did she know her!? Lucy wondered to herself. Then it hit her. She shifted through her purse and finally found the object she was seeking, the Newspaper. Yes! That was it Amber Quinn Jewelry, but could it be the same Amber? No, it was probably just a coincidence. But was it? Just in case Lucy took a quick photo of the missing poster and left.

As soon as Lucy got home she set down her stuff and took a seat on the couch. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and already had the newspaper in hand.  Lucy very slowly typed number by number the phone number she saw on the missing flyer.
“Hello, and welcome to Dough, Sauce, Cheese. This is Charlotte speaking, how may I help you?”
“Oh, sorry wrong number.”, lucy said and hung up. What happened to that phone number? It shouldn’t have been a pizza place who answered the phone! She pulled out her newspaper. She still had another shot at this. She dialed the number that was in the ad.
“Ring, ring, ring, ring” the phone rang, as the fourth ring rang she started to lose hope her phone only rang 5 times… until someone picked up.
“Hello?”, a man answered.
“hi, who is this?” Lucy replied
“This is Amber Quinn Jewelry, John speaking, how may I assist you?”
“Hi, I was wondering if you could give me the Amber Quinn headquarters phone number?”
“This is actually the headquarters”
“Oh ok, may I speak to Amber Quinn, please?”
“Yes, She is here right now”
“Ok”
“Hi this is amber Quinn, can I help you?”
“Hello my name is lucy Brakers, and…”
Lucy explained everything to her and they agreed to meet back at the 9-11 museum the following Friday at 2:00.

Lucy’s stomach was in knots as she approached the old building once again. Lucy pulled open the door to see a friendly face of a woman, only in what looked like her late 30’s
“Hi!”, lucy said to the woman with a shaking voice
The woman glanced up to see who was speaking to her
“Hello,” the woman said as she pulled out a small card, “Are you Lucy Brakers?”
“Yes,” she responded.
The pair walked through the museum until they reached the missing poster lucy found so intriguing.
“Wow”, Amber said in shock, “that was me when I was only about 20”
“You were missing?”, Lucy asked, puzzled.
“Yes I used to work in an office for a health company on the third floor of the trade centers, I was young and scared and after getting out I found my car and drove as far as I could staying away for about a week”
“Why?”
They both took their time exiting and walking along the street.
“I’m not quite sure, I think it was such a life-changing event to comprehend, I just couldn’t believe it.” finally replied.
“How did you get over what happened?”
“I found good friends and I usually hung out with them in my free time. It distracted me and I accepted it after a while, and moved on”
“What should I do then” lucy quizzed once again while taking a seat in a quaint coffee shop they found along their way.
“I would suggest joining some sort of club or group you can do things with, and change some things in your life that remind  you of it all”
“Ok,” Lucy said. It was time to try out this new master plan.
Amber stood holding out her hand, “Until next time”
Lucy took hold and shook her hand, “Thank you”
“Not a problem” Amber replied, and the two departed.

The next day Lucy went to her favorite cafe, as she usually did on Saturday mornings. She ordered her normal Blueberry muffin with orange juice and began to eat. Her favorite thing she liked about that cafe was their one seat tables. It was a box with three sides closed and you are sitting in a booth facing the open side that has blinds hanging down. The waiter simply slides your food under the blinds and onto the table then pulls the blinds all the way down so you're totally concealed from unwanted stares. Completely ingenious!
After driving back home, Lucy sat down on the couch. It was 11:47. She began to look through papers and magazines, all local of course, she wanted to find a public club to join.
Soon it was 2:00 and lucy had found absolutely nothing but ads. She was getting hungry again so she went out to her garage and pulled out her bike, hopped on and rode down to the local supermarket. He locked up her bike as soon as she arrived and headed inside.
“Hi, Eddie!”, She said very cheerfully.
“Well, Hello Miss Lucy!, and how are you today?”
“I’m just a bit hungry, thank you” she replied with a chuckle.
“So I’m guessing you’ll be wanting the usual?”, Eddie inquired, with his eyebrows raised.
“Yes please”
Eddie went back to the back room to get her stuff, his store was a quaint store different from most he would just go back if you simply gave him a list and make sure he got everything. Along with that he also had a giant bulletin board hung on the wall with push pins and if there was an event or someone was having a garage sale etc. they could make the announcement on the board. Despite that though no one really had the job of clearing it off and there were papers from over 2 years ago!
While waiting it was natural to look at it, but this time lucy noticed something she hadn’t ever before!
The NY Women’s Travel Club
Please join us for our first meeting on May 17th!
9-9:30 AM

Why that was only a week from today!
She would be sure to try it out and pulled out her phone to add it to her calendar just as Eddie came back in.
“Here you go!”
Lucy glanced at it, a loaf of bread, turkey, some fruit, and crackers.
“Thank you!” She said to him as she left the store

A week later, she woke up at 8. She had planned her outfit the night before and was very excited to see about this meeting she was going to. She pulled into the parking lot in front of some sort of rec center. Sure enough, she was right as she walked inside her ears surrendered to the cool hum of the Hawaiian music a hula class was dancing too. On the wall, a paper with rooms and times. She found her area and headed over to the “James Calendar” room.
“Welcome! Welcome!” said a woman towards the front of the room, “Please take a seat.” there were people all over scrambling to find a chair, Lucy took a seat in the corner.
“Thank you all for coming to our first meeting of the year!”, if you were here previous years, you're sure to know the drill. We usually meet before a couple of the summer months and plan a fun trip to an exotic place of majority’s vote! Last year, for those who did not attend we went to Brazil! The wildlife and beaches were extraordinary, I can’t wait for this year's trip!”
after about ten minutes three destinations were decided to vote on. Madrid, Spain. Munich, Germany or Reykjavik, Iceland. They held a vote and one was the winner by a landslide. “Drumroll please!” the woman whose name was Sara said. Drums sounded immediately. “And the winner is… Reykjavik, Iceland!” a cheer erupted throughout the room, as well as a wave of excitement.
“Thank you once again, everyone, for coming! Please take a packet on your way out, it has a packing list attached and the dates of the trip as well!”
Lucy took a packet. the date of departure, May 27th was in only ten days! She left very ecstatic for the trip to come.

It was the night before the trip and in the span of a week, Lucy had become good friends with a few other young adults who were in the Travel Group as well. They had kept connected and were all very excited for the vacation.
Lucy packed together all of her clothes, toiletries, and bedding etc. She was able to fit it all in two small suitcases, which was an accomplishment for her because she could be quite the overpacker. She placed all of her stuff by the door and drove to the airport… only 15 minutes away. She saw her party almost instantly, a great jumble of people she recognized from the meeting, and her friends Vanessa, Clara, and Lyla. Lucy walked over to where they were.
“Hi, guys!”, she said.
“Hi!”, said the other three in unison.
It took a while before anyone got to board the plane since they had to go through security, etc.  but once they did they chose their seats. The club bought the whole plane for the group so they didn’t have pre-assigned seats. Lucy sat with Vanessa and the other two sat together directly behind. It was a six-hour flight to Iceland, and Lucy slept through the majority of the ride. And soon they arrived.

4/24/16
Today was mainly a “getting settled” day me and my friends went to a quaint shop, around where we were staying. That is where I had bought this journal. I figure I could keep a record of this trip in this to read in the future.

4/25/16
The majority of our group went to visit Reykjavik’s famous Geothermal Pools, also known as hot springs in other places. The one we went to was more of a park if anything and had pamphlets that helped to describe exactly what Geothermal pools are and how they get so hot. It was a nice 60° day, and the hot water that coated my legs completely relaxed me! After spending most of the day at the spring we headed back to our rooms and hung out for the rest of the day in our rooms until a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant.

4/26/16
Our visit to Mount Esja was planned for today, and we all got ready to hike up the914 meter tall beauty. Finally, we began. The hike up Esja took around two hours till we reached the top. It was 8 pm and we set up a picnic on the top of the mountain to eat dinner. In Iceland the sun never really completely sets and so the sky was full of a mix of dark colors backed with a mellow light, and soon one of Iceland’s famous Auroras appeared, it was absolutely stunning!

5/2/16
The group is boarding the plane right now. We participated in a bunch of other activities the following days and now we are heading back to N.Y.

The next time Lucy had visited her therapist, they discovered that she had been improving. She continued on with the travel club, looking forward to next year’s trip and weekly visits to her aunt's bakery were always an exciting event, though frequent. And lucy was sure, something like this will never happen again.