Editor's note: AnnArbor.com sports writer Michael Rothstein is a Long Island, N.Y., native.

Ten years ago and it still feels like yesterday.

The memories flooded back in an instant Sunday night as news started to break that United States forces had killed Osama bin Laden.

Waking up to NBC on the television and seeing a small plane had crashed into the World Trade Center on a postcard-perfect day throughout New York. Showering and going to class my senior year at Syracuse University thinking it was odd, but not a big deal.

Getting out of the first of three classes on Sept. 11, 2001, and hearing both Twin Towers had fallen. Scrambling, using my cell phone and a long-discarded AOL email account to frantically reach my father, who worked a block from the Empire State Building, and my cousin, who had been in downtown Manhattan along with other friends and family working in and around New York City.

Waiting for hours to make sure they were okay and then begging them to come from Long Island to upstate New York because no one knew what was going to happen. What was next. And then returning to my house and seeing my roommate, Rob, sitting on the couch. A New York City native, he remained mostly in the same spot for days after watching his hometown under attack and the Twin Towers reduced to a horrifying plume of smoke.

So as much as the United States is in collective joy over the death of bin Laden today and for the foreseeable future, remember why this is important.

It will always feel a little weird to celebrate the killing of a man, even one who was as purely evil as bin Laden, because he had a wife and children, was a son and a father.

But if there is ever a time for this, it is today.

Almost immediately, my thoughts moved to those I’ve encountered over the past 10 years. To Florida offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, a New Jersey native who lost countless friends in the attacks. To Notre Dame women’s basketball coach Muffet McGraw, who was supposed to be on one of the planes that crashed into the Towers, only to be convinced not to by an assistant coach at the last minute. She still won’t talk about it.

To Michael Mastrangelo, a combat medic from Staten Island, N.Y. who was stationed in Afghanistan, to my current roommate, Neal, who fought overseas in the Navy, and to all the military members who fought for this outcome over the past 10 years.

To Andy Olsen, the father of former Notre Dame offensive lineman Eric Olsen, who was in the NYFD and one of the first to respond to the call. To Tony Ferrara, the father of former Michigan offensive lineman John Ferrara, a cop in 1 Police Plaza on 9/11 when he saw the second plane hit the Towers.

Both worked extremely long shifts in the hours and days after the Towers fell. Both lost colleagues and friends who felt like family.

To former Newsday columnist Shaun Powell, whose brother died in the Pentagon attack and who wrote about it so passionately and eloquently that 10 years later, reading the column is still an emotional experience.

Today is about them and about the families of the thousands of people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, that started this decade-long hunt.

Hopefully — and it is going to be different for everyone — bin Laden’s death can give a small amount of closure and peace to lives lost over the past 10 years.

So if you celebrate, when you celebrate, do it for them. Don’t celebrate death. Celebrate these lives and celebrate for those who fought trying to reach this conclusion.

And understand this isn’t over yet.

Eliminating bin Laden is merely a step. Continue to stay strong, stay vigilant and remember what all of these people endured and went through to protect our American freedom.

Remember how united we felt in the days after 9/11 and again how united the country was last night. Don’t lose sight of that.

There was one sight, though, that still remains.

A couple of months after 9/11, driving back to New York for the first time since the attacks, there was always a spot on I-80 where you could see the Towers in the distance. It was a first sign of being close to home and I knew it by heart, having made that drive countless times.

In a car with two freshmen from Syracuse at the time, we were talking and then we passed the spot, looked up and Towers were gone. We knew they weren't going to be there, but still ...

The chatter in the car was silent for a while.

It is an image I can close my eyes and see. Because as much as we as a country try to move on, what happened on 9/11 is something that, for multiple generations, we will never, ever forget.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by email at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein