I was in NYC two days ago visiting my sister who was there for work.

As luck would have it, she was staying near my favorite neighborhood — Brooklyn Heights — backdrop for the movie Moonstruck.

It was the perfect summer night, with the faintest whisper of fall in the air. We walked to the East River promenade and saw…

 … the Brooklyn Bridge, the neighborhood centerpiece.

And across the way, the so-called Tribute in Light shining from lower Manhattan, in memory of those who perished in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center 12 years ago.

Another place I once called home. Even after a dozen years, still can’t come to grips with the fact that that world is gone. But the beacons — poignant and defiant — filled that emotional void ever so slightly.

Of all the neighborhoods I’ve lived in in the Apple, Brooklyn Heights has always been it for me. A village in the middle of the city. Lots of greenery, gracious brownstones — and that view of Manhattan, which was always great, but never as grand as the other night.

(BTW, for more information on all of the 9/11 memorials, if you’re contemplating a visit: here, here and here.)