Lyz Glick Best

• [03:08] High School Sweethearts: The first day of ninth-grade biology, 1984 — and the girl Jeremy told his mom he was going to marry.
• [05:45] “Who’s Working the Chess Pieces”: Falling out of touch, a chance collision in a New York City bar, and a national judo title won without a coach.
• [14:10] A Father for 12 Weeks: The video of Jeremy narrating a diaper change — and the joy their daughter Emmy inherited from him.
• [17:38] “Redemption of Sky”: The remarkable poem Jeremy wrote at 16 or 17, published in his school’s literary magazine – and which made its way to Lyz after 9/11.
• [19:05] The Phone Call: About 30 minutes on the phone — staying calm, making a plan, and what Jeremy asked for if he didn’t make it home.
• [28:09] The Tuesday Group: The 9/11 widows who were pregnant or with young children — and how they learned that trauma and grief heal differently.
• [35:30] Finding Joy After Loss: The life Lyz rebuilt, her husband Jim’s quiet crazy good turn, and marking 25 years since the day honored at the Flight 93 National Memorial.

FRANK BLAKE: So I'd like to start with going back to your descriptions of Jeremy before 9/11, who he was to you and how you got together and just the story of you as a normal couple.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. So it's really sweet, I think, to go back and have those early memories as I was reflecting on this in preparation for our conversation. So we were high school sweethearts. We met the first day of ninth grade in our biology class. We were-

FRANK BLAKE: Oh, wow. That's real high school sweethearts.

LYZ GLICK BEST: I don't remember if we chose our seats or if they were assigned seats, but I was a new student. I had switched to a private school, Saddle River Day School, and Jeremy had been there since seventh grade. So he had friends, he felt confident, and I was the new kid coming in from a public school to a private school. Sat down across from him, and he was immediately friendly. This was 1984, so he had a big Afro and a crooked smile and a blazer where the sleeves were probably a little bit too short. And he was immediately friendly. I think I'm coming from eighth grade where boys and girls still aren't talking to each other. They're kind of wallflowers on their appropriate sides. He was immediately friendly, and I think I was taken aback a little bit. I had my guard up and wasn't really sure who I was going to be friends with in this new situation.

One day turned into the next day, and he was making conversation and jokes, and we just became fast friends. I had always had friends that were girls, and I think he was my first friend that was a guy. So that's really how our relationship started. We had common interests. He was funny. He was well liked by his peers. He was very athletic. He was a soccer player, a wrestler, and lacrosse player all in high school, but then his main passion was judo. I was a gymnast, so I had private club sport after school. So I think we both had that experience of training hard in our respective sports and then trying to keep up with the social and our schoolwork and all of that.

FRANK BLAKE: And then what carried through from high school to college and then getting married?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. So before we started dating in high school, we had a really strong friendship. I'd learned later on that after that first day that he met me, he went home and told his mom, "I met the girl I'm going to marry."

FRANK BLAKE: Oh, wow.

LYZ GLICK BEST: So he knew of that at 13 or 14.

FRANK BLAKE: That's impressive.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Years later, he could recount what I was wearing that first day. So that burned brightly in his memory. We went off to respective colleges. I went to college up in Maine, I went to Colby, he went to the University of Rochester. This was the age before cell phones, and so it was expensive to make a phone call a few states away. So we both did our own thing. There were times that we were in sync and we'd see each other in the summers. There were other times that we fell out of touch, but we would always joke that there was a force that was pulling us back. We would be... At 21, I can remember this one time, I had been doing some field studies. I was an anthropology major in Kenya, and I had to return early because I got malaria. And he was supposed to be working at the Jersey Shore and came home on a weekend. And we were in a bar on the Upper East Side, a random bar in New York City, and we literally bumped into each other.

FRANK BLAKE: Seriously.

LYZ GLICK BEST: We had so many occasions that it felt like fate was bringing us back, that we would joke who's working the chess pieces to make sure that we're back together. I graduated college and moved to California, and he was still in Rochester. He said, "You know what? The nationals for Judo are in San Francisco. Lyz is there. I'm going to train. I'm going to make them." And he went without a coach. He won the nationals, and that kind of put us on our trajectory back together. We were probably married, I don't know, four or five years after that.

FRANK BLAKE: So you wrote a book Your Father's Voice for your daughter, and that was now 20 years ago, give or take, your book. Do you look back on that and say, "Gee, there were things I left out that I wish I had included or things that I..." How do you reflect back on that book?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. So that's a really good question. I think for people that are widowed when they have a young child, it becomes a really big question and a really big source of pain and anxiety of, will I be able to show who this person was to the child that will never get to meet them? I can remember, immediately after 9/11, just thinking she's not going to know him. She's only going to know a sad mother. How do I keep his stories alive? I know, Brian, you and I had touched upon it a little bit, but how do I not have his story of 9/11 overshadow this amazing human that he was? She was 12 weeks old when he died, so she has no memory of him.

I'm very fortunate, he has a large family, five brothers and sisters. He was one of six. We're very close. So we kept him alive through simple memories and stories. But I think back to your question about the book, I was so worried that I would forget things about him. So how do I write this down? In reflection, I think the book was more for me in terms of healing, to just spend those first two years after his death telling our story, also telling the story of what it was like to be widowed so young, but also in such a public manner. So the book really goes through two different narratives of where I was at that present day, but then also trying to share these stories with our daughter.

So 25 years later, it's not a reference book that we use, but I think it was more of something that was extremely healing for me. Our daughter, Emmy, she knew those stories. It's interesting when I look back, she knew nothing about 9/11. I kept my kids out of school on September 11th. We did not go out to Pennsylvania, to Shanksville. We went up to the Catskill Mountains, which was a very special place and where his resting place is. We would go for a hike. We would get together with family, we would catch frogs, and we would just have a very simple family wholesome day where we would tell stories about him and just separate from that. But I don't think... As I said, I think it was a book that was more for my healing. I think writing, and I still use writing as a tool, is a great way to heal for many people.

FRANK BLAKE: Well, I watched your daughter's TED Talk, which I think was about five years ago. And I would just say, if that's a reflection, I mean, an extraordinary, extraordinary young woman. You succeeded not only with that book, but with many other things in terms of imparting wisdom from the overall tragedy and grief from it. I mean, really quite extraordinary.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. Thank you, Frank.

FRANK BLAKE: Is there anything you'd change about that if you were doing the book now?

LYZ GLICK BEST: No, I don't think so. I mean, again, I think one of my biggest drivers in healing myself was our daughter. Jeremy and I had struggled with infertility. We had had multiple miscarriages in the two years leading up to her birth. So she really was a gift. He was an amazing supporter as we struggled with having a healthy baby. She was born a month early. He was only a father for 12 weeks, but I knew he would've been a tremendous father. I think that's a part that hurts me so much, that he didn't get to experience her. And I did. I've had so much joy being her mother. I've learned so much about myself from being her mother. I think her experience... There were so many children that lost parents on that day, so many women that were pregnant, so many whose children were under two years of age. So, tremendous responsibility in all the single people that were made into a single parent on that day.

But I think her experience is very unique. I can't relate to her grief that she goes through, I think just like she can't relate to mine. I don't know what it's like not to know the person that you will miss, but you never got to know. So I don't really want to speak with her, but I know there's a lot of healing that she continues to have to do, even though she's got a new father. She's got siblings that... I got remarried, and she has a little brother and a little sister. So she's had the only life she's ever known, is how I can put it forth.

But when she graduated college a couple of years ago, it was such a proud experience for me, but also such a lonely experience because I felt like, "Okay, I did it. I didn't raise a sad child. I created a joyful life for her." It really was a sense of accomplishment that... I think other people... She graduated from Syracuse in a big stadium. I felt lonely at that moment of just, can anybody else really relate to where I am at this moment?

BRIAN SABIN: Can I offer a unique perspective on that moment, if you don't mind? I have to say that in a weird way, and I hope this makes sense, I felt a sense of healing knowing that you were able to do that for her. You know what I'm saying? I looked back and think about what happened to Jeremy and what was taken from him, and like you said, the risk that she could become a sad child or you would be a broken family. So to know that you made it there, to me, is just incredible. I can understand why you would be proud, but also lonely in that moment. Is there a moment between Emerson and Jeremy that sticks out in your mind from the time when they were together?

LYZ GLICK BEST: I mean, I think there are two that kind of stick out, and I think they both speak to the type of father that he would've been had he had those years. I think the first is when she was born. They take the baby away after the baby's born, and I'm like, "I'm totally fine." He was very concerned about her because she was born a month early, and I'm like, "Go, go be with her, make sure everything checks out okay." And then he was so afraid they were going to mix up the babies. So I'm like, "Nope, you stay with her. You stay comfortable." The fear that he had, it was just kind of endearing.

And then the second one, I have a video of him when I must have still been sleeping. He was the type of dad in those first weeks, like he got up with me. I was nursing, but he would do the diaper. He was not a dad that shied away from any of that. I think being number three of six kids, I am the youngest, it was like a wake-up call. I was like, "Oh, my gosh, I have this new infant. What am I supposed to do?" And he really led the way. I mean, that's pretty cool. I think that a father can help the mother feel more confident.

But I have videos of him when he is changing her diaper one morning, and he's like, "Oh, she's smiling. Oh, she can move her finger." I mean, she was 12 weeks, so she couldn't do very much. But even those little things that she could do were a sense of just happiness and elation for him as a dad, that I do have faith that he can see her and would be very proud of the young woman. She's physically his spitting image, but the way she finds joy in all of her purpose, that's him. She'll wake up and she's like, "Oh, today I get to do this." She's just a happy person, and that's who he was. Even the most mundane tasks, he found joy in.

FRANK BLAKE: One of the things that I'm sure you've reflected on over the last 25 years is, it struck me that Glick, the last name, in Yiddish means luck, but neither good luck or bad luck, it's luck. There were so many odd things that had to happen to put Jeremy in that plane at that time. How do you reflect on the role of destiny and just the circumstances being so unusual? I mean, to be a legendary hero, but you don't set off in the morning.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Right.

FRANK BLAKE: Be a legendary hero. You're setting off on the morning for a flight.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. I think part of the story is, he was supposed to leave the night before, and there was a fire at Newark, the flight was canceled. I think there is, I'm going to say, hope or healing to think about life in that way. I tend to think of myself as a fairly spiritual person, and I think that helps me in terms of knowing that potentially, not potentially, we will see each other in some place, form again. But I pulled something out as I was preparing for this. I wanted to share, I'm not sure if you had ever come across this, but about, I would say in the first year after September 11th, his English teacher at our high school sent a poem that he had written when he was probably about 16 or 17. I don't know if I ever saw this in high school, and we had a literary magazine called Mimesis.

I'll share it with you because it still gives me the chills, but it gives me a sense of we don't know the bigger picture of things. So he wrote this poem at 16 or 17, and it's called Redemption of Sky. He writes, "Soaring through the clouds, arms spread, wind whisking on the back. Unaffected by the laws of gravity, one symbol of soul and freedom. Disrupting the peace with air, crack like thunder, lead whistling through the air. Piercing pain, arms fold in. The graceful glide metamorphosis into a chaotic dive. The life meets the ground and movement is no more, but once again, free." So he wrote that at 16.

FRANK BLAKE: That is chilling.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. I mean, if I think about Flight 93 in those final moments, it's almost a foreshadowing in a sense of-

FRANK BLAKE: Not almost. Not almost. Just directly.

LYZ GLICK BEST: He did not have experiences. I think he might've gone on one flight with his family before that time. So-

FRANK BLAKE: Wow. That's extraordinary. Thank you for sharing that. That's just extraordinary. When you got the phone call from him, how long did it take for you to understand what was going on?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Seconds. I woke up that morning. I mean, we all remember, it was a beautiful morning. I went up to the Catskills to my parents. Jeremy and I lived about two hours south of New Jersey. I had two little dogs and a baby. I woke up, I looked at the sky, it was like my wedding day. I was like, "It is a beautiful morning. What am I going to go and do? I'm going to take my daughter for a walk on this walk that I love to do up in the country roads." I turned the TV on to nurse my baby, and I saw that one plane. Well, I didn't see the plane. I saw that the World Trade Center was on fire. A plane just hit it. So your mind kind of spirals. I'm like, "Oh, commuter plane. Okay, it's 8:00. There's not going to be any people in there. Not too many." Your mind goes through your Rolodex. I'm like, "Who do I know that is working there?" I'm like, "A couple people, but the chances that they'd be in there."

And then I just went on with them my morning. I took a phone call. My parents told me that Jeremy had called earlier before he took off just to... This was before cell phone, so he called on our landline to say, "Taking off." My parents said, "Lyz is still asleep," and he's like, "Don't wake her. I'll call her when I land." And then I got up, I'm like, "The next move was coffee. So where am I going to find coffee in my parents' house?" So I went downstairs, and it's an old farmhouse with lots of different rooms, and there's TVs in every room. I'm going in because I'm interested in what's happening in the news, and I'm turning on the TVs. In hindsight, my parents were really worried at this point. They though it was something else, but I'm just thinking that plane was from LaGuardia. He was flying out of Newark.

And then the second plane hit, and my parents are turning the TVs off, and I'm kind of like, "No, let's watch this." And then my parents were in the kitchen, and I was in the living room, which is separated by a long hallway, and the phone rang, and it was him. I hear my mother say, "Oh, my gosh, Jeremy, thank God it's you. We've been so worried." He said, "It's not good. Hand the phone to Lyz."

FRANK BLAKE: Wow.

LYZ GLICK BEST: I saw my mom, and she was just ashen, and I could tell they knew it was really bad. So I'm taking the call, and we've got a 60-inch big screen TV. Now both towers are burning, and I'm on the phone with him. So in hindsight of, to your question like, "What's going through your mind?" you're like, "Okay, a minute ago, life was amazing. I'm thinking about coffee and a walk, and now here we are." My body, I think, was physically in shock. I can remember holding the phone. My hand was shaking like this. And then I'm like, "You need to stay calm." We both were in a planning mode of how we're going to figure this out. And it was happening so quickly. You're thinking to yourself, "Do I tell him what I'm seeing on TV?" He sounded very calm. Knowing him, I was like, "All right, I need to share what I'm seeing."

And then what he was hearing from the hijackers were that they were going to blow the plane up. So he was describing that situation to me and then asking me, did I think that was the option? Because that would've changed what his response would've been. So I said, "Nope, I don't think they're going to blow the plane up. It seems like they're crashing it into his places." There were other passengers on the plane that were making calls as well. So I think, in real time, they're putting a plan together. And in between putting the plan together, he's telling me, if he doesn't make it off the plane, just what he wants of the rest of my life, just to make sure that Emmy knows that he loves her and that he wants me to be happy in my life, which are amazing words that were given to me and amazing words by others.

If people want to know more about the stories, listen to these calls that loved ones made, not just from the flights, but from the trade centers, and people saying their last goodbyes and just really focused on the living, and what a gift that is to those that were left behind. So the call continued. I think we were on the call for a total of, I'm going to say, 30 minutes or something like that. And then he shared that he was going to attack the guy with the bomb. They were making a plan, and they were going to try to take control of the plane. I said, I thought that was a good idea. I asked where he was. He said they were over a rural area, that they had made a turn, that they were heading back. They could sense what they were doing. I told him he needed to do it. He made a joke. He said, "Okay, I've got my butter knife from breakfast."

We had assessed the situation. I was like, "Do they have guns?" So I mean, we're going through this. I'm like, "All right, because if they have guns, that's not something you can really fight." And he said, "They have knives." I was like, "All right, he can take on a guy with a knife, no problem." He was a judo champion. He was 6'1", 220. He was solid muscle. With that kind of, I think... I'm not going to say he felt anger. I'm saying I think he acted out of love, that strong love of wanting to get home to us, and I knew he would be able to do it. So when they said that they were going to do that, my dad was standing next to me, and I didn't want to hear. I gave the phone to him, and then I collapsed. I was physically ill. And then I went away from everybody. I ignored them. I did not want to hear what had happened. I wanted to remain hopeful.

So I thought if I hid from people who knew what was going on and watching the TVs, I could still have my hope alive. At one point, I don't know, somebody came in and said I heard they're survivors. So then, I have my car keys and I'm like, "All right, so should I drive to Philadelphia, Newark?" I mean, I was about to go and find that plane. And then my mom was like, "Nope, I think you need to stay here." Probably was a couple hours later, I think I walked into the kitchen for something else, and I bumped into my dad, and he just hugged me. I just looked at him, and I was like, "You think he's dead?" I could not even wrap my head around it. He'd known Jeremy since he was 15, like a son too, and I couldn't even believe it. We both just collapsed. I couldn't even accept that as being a reality.

FRANK BLAKE: One of among the many things extraordinary about these events is the extent to which you, Jeremy, other passengers, other people on the phone kept their heads above them. I mean, just the story of, "I've got a butter knife here," even a little humor in it. Is that something that you go, "Yep, that's sort of what I expected"? Or was it, "Wow, that's amazing that someone..." I mean, it is maybe a little bit of both, that someone could come up with those reserves of calmness in that situation.

LYZ GLICK BEST: I mean, I think it's a little bit of both. I mean, I think if you asked me on September 10th, I would probably have said no. But I would've said, "Oh, nope. Jeremy would've kept his calm." But I think this is a story in all of us. We don't know what we can do until we're faced with a moment. I think people would... In interviews or stories that came out on September 12th, and it was like they were fighting terrorism, they were going to save the Capitol, and I'm like, "No, they had no knowledge of that." They loved their families. Each person on that plane, each person in that tower was the most important person to somebody else. On that day, somebody's entire world crumbled. Their hearts broke, their hearts were shattered. A beautiful life was lost for no reason, but they were not signing up to fight terrorism.

But the stories of, and I do hope some of these stories come out, not just Flight 93, but people leading people down the stairwell. That gentleman or that firefighter went back upstairs, and they got more people and never came out. We know many of these stories, but there are many of these stories that we don't know. I think we don't know what we can accomplish or do until faced with that adversity. I don't think any of us know, but I think love is the power that can lead you to extraordinary acts.

FRANK BLAKE: Do you keep in touch with other families of the passengers and crew of Flight 93?

LYZ GLICK BEST: I feel like the families of Flight 93, we are a very strong group, and I think we just had a planning meeting for the 25th anniversary. I do separate myself from Shanksville, from where the plane crashed. I think I've been out a handful of times, and I get no peace from going out there. I feel very anxious. I try to make a connection, but I can't. All I see is horror of the day, and it's very difficult for me. I do, however, after September 11th, there were groups of 9/11 widows that met. I think our group was sponsored by the United Way, and there were probably about 10 of us. We all were either pregnant or had young children. Those women, we met every Tuesday. I brought Emmy in her little car seat carrier. I put her on the floor.

And that was my lifeline, that support of people going through the exact same thing, and where you could just be yourself without judgment, like, "Yep, I haven't washed my sheets in two months, and I don't know when I'm going to do it because his smell is still on my sheets," or, "I am not going to move his toothbrush." We didn't have to ask for permission, whereas the rest of the world is like, "All right, bereavement is up. Time to move on." We were able to just be ourselves and what we were holding without having to explain ourselves. And I do think that's very important for people, for some people that might be in the early stages of grief. We talked about that loneliness, I know I had mentioned that. Finding that support in others going through similar things can be tremendous for healing, I believe.

FRANK BLAKE: I mean, this was such a national event, and I'm sure so many people wanting to be helpful to you. What was actually helpful to you in dealing with this grief?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Oh, gosh. I mean, obviously, I had tremendous support from family and friends. They really stepped up and picked things up. I think you're right. It is a very unique tragedy, and there were so many people willing to help. My community was amazing. People coming to clean my house or drop off diapers, all of those things was helpful. But there was also, I have to say, there was a lot of noise. You couldn't escape it. I'm a runner, and so I'd be on the treadmill at the gym. There's Osama bin Laden who's just been killed, and then they're having statements from September 11th families, and I'm running, and I'm like, "I'm not a normal person. These people next to me are in the middle of normal lives, but my life is not normal."

So I imagine it could be similar for people who have different types of loss, but it's there. Even preparing myself now for the 25th anniversary, I will go out to Pennsylvania, but it's kind of like preparing myself for that noise. There will be people there, and I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to come the day early." There's a place, there's a big rock. I don't know if you've ever been out to the memorial. That's gated off. There were many unidentified remains, and they're buried underneath there, so it's almost a resting place for our loved ones. But I would go out the day before, and I would go out there by myself and just have that time by myself without all of the noise.

But again, I think memorials and monuments are for other people. I think it's an incredible place to learn for those that may have been born after. The community members in Pennsylvania and those that work at the memorial, I mean, they deserve kudos. They didn't sign up for this to happen in their town. And they have treated us with just such graciousness and compassion. I'm thankful that they are part of our healing and our story as well. I don't want to speak for all of the Flight 93 families, but I think we appreciate their gestures and kindness for creating this beautiful space where the ending happened for the flight.

FRANK BLAKE: So if you look back in 25 years, extraordinary grief and courage, what are some of the lessons over the last 25 years for you personally?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. I mean, I've had to focus very much on my grief. Again, thinking back to that morning that I woke up after he died, and I remember looking at my daughter in her crib and thinking she's going to just know a sad mom and she's not going to know her dad. And I had no idea what life would look like. So there's a lot of work that goes involved. I think it's really understanding there's trauma, and I didn't realize I had such trauma. I can remember a few years out of September 11th and I was still having a lot of anxiety and just thinking about the last phone call. My therapist was like, "You have PTSD." I couldn't even entertain it. I'm like, "No, that's something people who fight wars get. I don't have PTSD."

So understanding, yep, you had a trauma, and how do you heal from trauma is very different than working with your grief. Trauma is something that you need to work through. And there's many ways to do that, like evidence-proof ways, and then there's your grief. And then really learning what grief is. Not trying to go back to the person I was. I think I was always trying to go back to that person I was on September 10th. But now embracing, I call it, traumatic growth. I don't know if that's a therapy term, but how have I grown? And then what do I take with these gifts that I've learned and how do I pay that forward? I think those that paved the way for me, people that were vulnerable and shared their story of loss with me, gave me hope.

I mean, I can remember sitting with somebody who had lost their husband tragically, and she was many years out, she could have been 20 years out. I can remember just sitting with her and saying, "Is it always going to feel like this? Am I always going to hurt like this?" She's like, "You won't. It will change." And I was like, "All right, I'm going to put that in my back pocket. That's all I need to know." Because where I was those first few years, the pain was unbearable. I think for anybody that's just lost somebody, not only my missing him, thinking of what my daughter lost, for me to wrap my head around what Jeremy's final moments must have been like and what he didn't get to experience in life. He was only 31. He had so much to do. So I think separating the trauma from the grief was really important for me to understand in terms of my healing.

FRANK BLAKE: Over time, has it become an easier process? Or is it some ups and downs? How has it moved over time for you?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. Again, that raw pain is gone. I think you get a better understanding, acceptance, awareness. Sometimes it's like walking on a tightrope. You're like, "Okay, what's going to push me off?" But I know if I feel sad one day and fall off, it's going to be okay. I think focusing on what feels good. So what are the memories? Going back and sharing the story of what we were like when we met when we were 14, remembering what he was like as a dad. Those are all things, I'm so glad for those memories, and you don't lose them. I can bring his voice back to me. I can bring what it feels like when he smiled at me and have those feelings. Is it the life that I thought I would have? No, but I've built a really beautiful life.

I think a lesson is that you can have joy again after such tremendous loss. I wouldn't have known that on September 10th or September 11th or five years after. But I think 25 years after, you can have that. I think to just trust in yourself. Each person who's grieving, it's your grief. If I sit... I do a lot of volunteer work. I led groups. I've worked with widows one-on-one. I'm not going to say work with them, but I've sat with them and shared my story. I'm not going to try to make them feel better. It's, you're going to feel better when you're going to feel better, and that's okay.

But I think our culture moves us so quickly through grief. I mean, if you look at bereavement in corporations today, like you go to the funeral, you have a week off, and then you're expected to go back. I mean, if you've lost your spouse, if you've lost your child, how can you go back and be a functioning worker? I mean, some people might need to go back for the distraction, but you're not going to go back that same person. So we have a lot of work to do, I think, in terms of the grief work that we can do as a company or a country here in the US and how we begin discussions on it because we're not well-prepared.

FRANK BLAKE: Is there something that you hope that people take away from listening to your story and Jeremy's story?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. I mean, I think if you don't know much about September 11th, is to learn about those stories and read about the people, read about the families. I think there's so much inspiration that can come from these stories. And then I think in terms of, I think, my family's story, I think that there is hope after loss. If somebody is newly bereaved at this moment and might be feeling helpless, connect yourselves with others. There are some great organizations out there that can provide that type of support. But I think it's just really listening to your own heart and your own timeline and not rushing yourself through it. We all come in with different skills and where we're at, and then you have a loss. So everybody's experience is quite unique.

FRANK BLAKE: I ask this of everyone who's on our show: Who has done a crazy good turn for you in your life?

LYZ GLICK BEST: I'm going to have to say, and he'd probably be embarrassed, is my husband, Jim. He knew Jeremy as well, but he is the most patient human I've ever met. The way that he has loved our daughter Emerson as his own from day one, the way that he has selflessly kept his memory alive, Jeremy's memory alive for her. He's also just provided such a stable life, normal family life with siblings that are sometimes wonderful, but little siblings that sometimes could be a lot. She has just had, I would say, your typical full life despite the loss that she feels on her own. So he would probably be... You know?

FRANK BLAKE: That's a great answer. That's a great answer. It's just wonderful for you to share some time on your reflections and your experience. I mean, increasingly now, it's hard to believe, we've got people in their 20s who weren't alive when 9/11 happened. Is there something that you'd tell to them to understand that moment in time a little better?

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. I think there are a few things that come out. I think not just remembering the day, but remembering the kindness that came in the days thereafter. I mean, it's a little muddled for me, I think others that weren't so directly impacted. But what if we moved through life? I mean, I know it's kind of idealist, but every day with that same kindness in our hearts, instead of being short with people. Everybody's experiencing something underneath, and we don't know what anybody's experiencing, but if we can move through life with a little bit more compassion and forgiveness. So I think part of my journey too is trying to understand... I mean, I'm not going to get all political here, but trying to understand terrorism a little bit more. How do I have forgiveness? I mean, nobody's been brought to justice quite yet, but who are these people that did this? I've done a lot of reading on what makes somebody a terrorist.

Violence begets violence. I think if we're going to move forward, is to really understand from a world perspective of how do we stop this? I mean, how do we make sure this doesn't happen again? So I think having those worldviews where you really understand what's going on from a worldview, but I think in our own day-to-day, just having kindness and compassion for those around us, I think that can go a long way.

FRANK BLAKE: Well, Lyz, thank you for this. As I said, the whole point of this podcast is recognizing people who've done great things for others, and you've certainly done that, and Jeremy certainly did that. And there are a lot of other people around you who've done that. So thank you for sharing your reflections on what has to... I mean, every anniversary comes with bitterness along with the great things that people brought to life. There's also a fairness. I mean, the grief is always there.

LYZ GLICK BEST: Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for this opportunity and for doing such a great podcast. I wasn't familiar with it before, but now I'm a big fan of it.