9:03

9:03 is the time the healing began on April 19th, the Park Ranger told the crowd tonight on the steps of the Rescuers Orchard at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

9:03 was the time people began helping each other.

The first rescuers on the scene were the Oklahoma City Fire Department. They were soon joined by fire departments from around the country. And they were joined by rescue dogs.

Whatever the rescuers needed, the city responded. Batteries for flashlights, they got them. Anything they needed appeared almost instantly. It became known as the Oklahoma Standard.

I went down to the Memorial again tonight to take pictures, and there were more people tonight than the previous two nights of this Memorial weekend. A lot of families with young children. A lot of people of all ages.

I was there quite a while tonight, longer than I thought I would be or intended. I didn't realize they were giving talks this weekend on the symbolism of the Memorial and I stayed for that and met some nice people.

Sitting next to me were three women, two of which came from Los Angeles and Atlanta for the funeral of an aunt along with a cousin from Oklahoma City. The woman from Los Angeles told me she was impacted the second she walked in by the beauty and the peace.

When I was leaving, the women I had set with were leaving as well. The woman from Los Angeles told me it was the most beautiful memorial she had ever been to and added, "And I've been to Washington D.C. You should be very proud of what you have done as a city".

It was dusk and the lights came on around the Memorial , making it exceptionally beautiful. The chair lights illuminate the name of the person or persons (in the case of the pregnant women) on the chair creating an especially sacred effect.

The designer of the Memorial, used the chairs to symbolize the daily, aching loss felt by the loss of these people. Think of the empty chair regularly used by someone who has died recently. You don't see the chair when you look at it, you see the person who occupied it and is now gone. It is extremely personal, this Memorial of ours.

We were standing under the 9:03 Gates of Time entrance. The gates were created to leave everything behind when you enter the world of 9:02.

Her eyes were still taking it all in. She was stunned, moved and deep in thought even as we talked. She couldn't take her eyes off of the sight before her and found it hard to leave.