(And given that it has been 10 years and the World Trade Center site is well underway to being redeveloped, this will be the last time I call it Ground Zero.)
Even the most cynical among us have to be taken in by the emotion of it all.
And we thank you for all your feedback about our coverage - starting at 6 a.m. and ending at midnight.
Strange thing to watch these Sept. 11 anniversary services. It's hard to watch, but even harder to turn off.
It reels you in and it's hard to pull away.
This year's ceremony at Ground Zero was different than prior versions for several reasons. It's likely the last public reading of the names of the victims - nearly 3,000 of them. It was the 10th anniversary. And a larger than normal crowd showed up.
As we were covering the event, I thought about how important these memorials have become - not just to the victims' families, but also to the rest of us.
My kids watched, for various amounts of times.
My 16-year-old son texted (the primary communication method for teenagers) during the ceremony: Dad, this is so heavy.
My 19-year-old, away at college far from New York, texted that she was sad she wasn't in New York and felt weirdly disconnected being away from her city on Sept. 11.
My 2-year-old daughter watched briefly, but then asked her mother to please switch to Dora The Explorer.
But it got me thinking about my older kids, and how much of a role the terror attacks - and the spectra of terrorism - played in their childhoods. I also thought how these annual memorials were helpful in dealing with the fear and pain - that this collective outpouring and sharing of sorrow was somehow a healing experience.
I know it has been for me.
And it's been an honor to anchor our coverage of these annual events - as we bring them to you.
Now, we move on. But we don't move far. Tonight at 11, we'll have the latest on the security crackdown that has remained in effect today. It is likely to start easing after tonight.
Authorities say they're still treating seriously this unconfirmed intelligence tip of a planned Al Qaeda terrorist attack. But as NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly acknowledged to me yesterday, cops would never have taken these extra-security measures based on this tip had it not been the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11.
He's just sayin'.
Speaking of just sayin' - what to make of the Bank of America announcement today that it's going to slash 30,000 jobs? Lemme get this straight - we bail out B of A, and then it cuts all these jobs? Oy.
We're also covering politics tonight. A special election tomorrow to replace resigned Congressman Anthony Weiner. The seat, which straddles Queens and Brooklyn, has never been held by a Republican.
But that could change, as Republican Bob Turner is ahead in the polls of long-time Democratic politician and current Assemblyman David Weprin.
And we're covering the latest Republican Presidential debate tonight - this time at Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
