Lasting impression for Auburn couple as 9-11 approaches

Alan and Dale Shuttleworth are native New Yorkers, Dale from Brooklyn and Alan from Queens. "We met in college and the romance began there," Alan Shuttleworth says. "After we married, our immediate family kept moving to California, so we eventually migrated to stay connected to family." The Shuttleworths have been in California since 1975. Son Jay graduated from UC Davis, went to New York to pursue his Ph.D. at Columbia University and has worked in New York City since. He's currently a professor at Queens College in the City University of New York. The Shuttleworths this week are visiting their son in Brooklyn. On Wednesday, they took some special photos of the city from the Brooklyn waterfront. Here are their thoughts with the 21st anniversary of the terror attack on Sunday, Sept. 11: As New Yorkers, the emotions connected with 9-11 are still raw. We have a photo of us taken from the Brooklyn side that shows the twin towers on 9-10. We flew out of New York to return home to California that day. We originally planned to fly on 9-11 but changed our mind. Fortuitous! Who knows what bullet we dodged by flying home a day early. We came back to New York City several times over the years, partly to observe the transformation of the 9-11 site from disastrous rubble to amazingly beautiful park. The Freedom Tower is a fitting tribute to the towers. While we visited the Empire State Building many times, we never did visit the Trade Center. Alas! After dinner Tuesday night, Jay suggested a trip to the waterfront. I forgotten the tower lights would be on. ...Jay did not! After a short taxi ride, we literally stood on the gravel of the East River to take photos. The entire waterfront has been transformed from abandoned commercial ventures into a dramatic and spectacular park that runs for miles on the Brooklyn shoreline. Lots of folks shooting photos and just sitting quietly and taking in the panorama. Almost Hollywood in the view, it is spectacular, to say the least. To have the Twin Tower lights on makes it just that more special. Not something that is easily forgotten.