9/11 - 24 years ago since everything changed

I think we all remember where we were on the 11th September 2001 — which was 24 years ago today.

I was at home in Scotland. The day before, I had been starting to organise my suitcase in preparation for a trip to New York. I was to be guest of honour at the Jack Vettriano exhibition at the International Art & Design Fair, to be held at the 7th Regiment Armory on Park Avenue opening later that month. I was due to depart the following week and on that day I was preparing some things for my trip. But I recall increasingly during that day a strange feeling which came over me which left me feeling uneasy and stayed with me the whole day and lead me to make a call to my friend, who was due to accompany me on the trip. I told her that I could no longer go to New York for the exhibition — that I was cancelling the trip. Something felt wrong about it and I didn't know quite why but knew that it was important and that I wouldn't go. This was a big turn around as I had been looking forward to this moment for weeks.

Jack had already decided not to go due to health reasons, but he had insisted that it was essential that I did and encouraged me to bring a friend instead. After all, he said, the exhibition was entirely of paintings of me, I had to be there, he joked, it was my show afterall, he said. My friend was surprised, “Why?” she asked. All I remember was saying that it didn't feel right, that I couldn't go.

The next morning I was at home, after taking my little boys to school, I remember standing in the living room when I heard the radio from the kitchen announce, breaking news, that a plane had hit one of the twin towers in New York. I switched on the television, and joined much of the world in watching the tragic events in New York unfold in real time, with horror and disbelief at what I was seeing and hearing. Staring for the rest of the day at the television, to try to understand, what at first seemed a terrible accident then to understand that it had been planned. The shock of it left the world confused and changed forever. My personal trip to New York, faded into insignificance.

Of course the exhibition was cancelled. The Armory was used to shelter some people who had lost their homes and to serve the community. The exhibition wasn't posponed to another time, the shock of it all just left these kinds of things forever cancelled.

A few years ago Jack came to visit me in Italy and brought with him a rare copy of the catalogue for that exhibition that never was, this copy was one of the last he had. I treasure it as I do all the gifts that Jack gave to me, now that he is no longer here, it resonates all the deeper.

We all lived a shared experience that day and each have our own stories to tell, this was mine. Story telling is an important piece of our journey through life, how we fit into our own days and weeks and years, how our stories unfold and intertwine and connect with the world. On a day like that, the connection was all the closer..