Five days after my 26th birthday, and 20 years ago today, Mom awoke me at 8:49 a.m. and said to turn on the TV. She said an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center.

My ears perked. I turned down the prospect of sleeping to watch CNN.

If you were alive that day, then I don’t need to tell you that my eyes were glued to TVs the rest of the morning. Later that day and for the rest of the week, I channel surfed to gain different camera angles and unedited commentaries. Because social media tools didn’t exist in the way they exist today, I was addicted to knowing what was happening as it happened.

As the FBI investigated leads across the country, I remembered visiting those cities during a 24,000-mile roadtrip that ended a week earlier. Las Vegas, Phoenix, Sacramento, Boston. When federal agents surmised that terrorists boarded a ferry from Nova Scotia to Maine a week before 9/11, I shuddered that they could have been on my ferry!

People bought American flags and patriotism ran amok.

I repeated that experience when I discovered the 9/11 Television News Archive.

The archive contains 3,000 hours of domestic and international news coverage from 20 channels over seven days beginning on September 11, 2001. It’s surreal.

One of the lessons of 9/11 is that anything can happen to anyone at any time. We can’t take life for granted. Maybe we need an inspirational video about a cardboard box to reflect on our mortality.

I drink water every day. It’s the best beverage.

When I turn on the kitchen sink, I don’t know the interior condition of water pipes from the source, but I assume that the municipal 6-inch pipes under the street are routinely maintained and replaced. However, from the street into my apartment building sink, the pipes are older and may not be as clean. Because of this, I own a Brita long-last filter pitcher to reduce the water gunk before drinking it.

My problem with drinking sink water is the unpleasant taste even after filtration. I suppose I could buy lemons, limes, and oranges, and slice them into each glass (or into the pitcher) but I’d need a lot of fruit to mask the taste. Besides, I think that drinking still water is boring; and I don’t want to be nonstop drinking iced tea or coffee either.

This is why I buy cans of seltzer water while doing routine food shopping. It may not be environmentally friendly to buy manufactured cans all of the time, but I’m not going to invest in a do-it-yourself carbonation machine so I feel like I’m actually saving money.

There are lots of brands in the supermarket aisle, and I’ve learned which brands are best for my palate in terms of natural flavor and carbonation bubbliness. For instance, generic supermarket brands are usually just as tasty as big-name brands like La Croix Canada Dry. And, they cost significantly less to purchase.

Enter Wegmans.

Last year, three different people wrote reviews of Wegmans-brand seltzer water and ranked them from worst to best. It’s fascinating to read how and why each person ranked each flavor in the order they did. For instance, newspaperman Will and vegan blogger Mimi ranked Orange Pineapple as their favorite flavor whereas Doctor Amy ranked that in 12th and Ginger in first.

I agree with Amy. Ginger is reminiscent of ginger ale. I haven’t drank soda in forever and I like the subtle spiciness of each sip. The carbonation is spot-on. I found this flavor a few weeks ago (before looking up web lists) and I’m glad I did. This will be a new staple in my kitchen.

Because Will and Amy loved Orange Pineapple, I bought a box. It’s okay as a first-drink-of-the-morning drink while sitting outside, but it’s definitely not my favorite flavor. Maybe in the top 10. I can taste both flavors while the liquid swirls in my mouth. Drinking this concoction allows me to imagine I’m in the tropics.

Lemon, Lime, and Lemon Lime would probably be better if mixed with alcohol. I don’t drink alcohol so I’m guessing. Alone, these flavors are satisfying but not memorable. Lime used to be my go-to flavor, but once I started branching into other flavors, I lost that Lime addiction. Lemon Lime as a combined flavor is not bad.

Orange has a poor after-taste for me. I hope that Wegmans can improve on it. I prefer buying this flavor from the Schweppes brand.

Grapefruit is the same as Orange. It’s okay when drinking it from the can, but the moment I swallow, my face scrunches into an eww. It’s a tolerable flavor but probably better as a mixer.

I haven’t tried the other Wegmans flavors and I really have no interest in them.

John Steinbeck and his French poodle, Charley, embarked on a road trip across the United States in 1960. He wrote about his travels in a 1962 book, entitled, “Travels with Charley: In Search of America.”

It’s one of my favorite books. I initially read it after my own cross-country road trip in 2001. Among his nuggets of perspective, Steinbeck wrote about the connection between the journey and the destination.

“In Spanish there is a word for which I can’t find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction.”

The concept of vacilando was the source of some of my most memorable travel stories.

One time, I explored a dirt trail near the Grand Canyon’s south rim. I didn’t expect the dirt to transition into snow. I braked and got stuck! Because I learned to drive in New England, I knew about the drive-reverse-drive method of rocking my car’s engine if I got stuck. I eventually was able to free myself from the snow. Then, I got stuck in the mud! Thankfully, a park ranger appeared as dusk approached and he towed me backwards to drier land. Finally, with thanks and a wave, I drove away to find dinner!