- He was the best father that anybody could ever have.
And that's what hurts the most.
But he's up there.
He loved you from the very beginning, from the very moment.
Oh, you'd see his excitement.
- I was always told as a kid that I look like him
so just like looking into the mirror
and having him look back at me just makes me feel so good.
- Norbert Szurkowski was in the North Tower
of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001,
when a hijacked plane hit the building.
Eight months later, his second daughter Claudia was born.
- I grew up kind of plastered as a 9/11 baby.
A lot of people knew before I even had to say
anything I know when I moved to Florida,
I would have to tell my teachers in advance,
you know, if I'm going to New York for a week,
this is why I'm missing it or in class if I can skip out
on, you know, sitting there while you teach about it.
Growing up, I've tried to kind of close off
on that part of my life until recently, you know,
I'm older now and I was like this is my story,
this is what brought me to me so I should share that.
My mom always assumed that he was probably in an elevator
on his way home because he was supposed to be done at 9:00.
So he was probably like on his way out when the plane hit
and he was working on the 104th floor
so it was above the impact zone.
So my mom thinks he was caught up somewhere in between.
- A lot of it, I don't remember.
I just remember that when I had my family,
friends come, and a lot of people at my house
going back and forth for a period of time,
I don't remember how long but they were helping
because I was just closed off.
The TV had to be off whenever I was in the room,
whenever I walked into the house 'cause I just --
I created this barrier as if my life stopped
until somebody was going to tell me that he's coming home.
- My mom always said that he was so excited to be a dad
so when he found out about my older sister
he was just like head over heels excited.
And then, when he found out about me, it was just ecstatic.
He only knew that she was pregnant with me
for about a week.
- "We're excited and we're delighted your little one.
From parents."
Everybody around me was excited about the baby coming
and whatnot.
I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have,
which makes me sad, you know,
but I looked forward to having her.
So it was very difficult. - Everything I do, I do for him,
like, I think about him constantly every single day.
I talk to him every single day as if he were still here.
Some days are easier than others like some days like
I'll be talking or just sitting alone
and I'll feel, like, weightlessness.
But other days, I feel, like, super heavy
so I feel like those weightless days
are him showing his presence, you know.
It's so hard for me to understand how I can grieve
so heavily and how I can be so upset
because I did never meet him
and I did never get to experience
what it's like to have, like that full family.
And it's crazy how painful it is just to like think of one thing
or hear his name and it hurts me so bad because I never met him.
- Looking at her, you know, was time gone by
but I think because of all the struggles,
I think it seems like an eternity.
Trying to deal with...
And I don't think you ever do.