September 11

There were very touching commercials on the past few weeks, the slogan being something like "what will you do?" - to remember 9/11. Robert DeNiro even chimed in, with his long hair and New Yorkness. It must've really sunk in because Sunday morning, my daughter crawled into bed with me and we flipped a few channels together and settled on a man who used to work in the North Tower telling his story. My youngest was interested so I left it there. It was like so many other stories we've heard over the past ten years. To be honest, I shy away from the 9/11 stories every year. It's all too sad and has been hijacked by conspiracy theorists and politics, and did I mention how sad it is?

This year was different. I let myself take the time with my daughter and my husband to remember. We watched the History Channel's "102 Minutes", which is television coverage as it happened that morning. I had been at the doctor's office with my youngest, getting her three month immunizations.

My husband watches every year. His son died on 9/11. It was years before the new millenium and there was no news coverage when his seven year old died; but as he watched the memorials on Sunday morning, he felt a sense of the whole country mourning with him. He once told me that one of the many hard things about losing his son is that no one talks about him anymore. I imagine people are apprehensive because they don't want to bring up the sadness of it all. But it is sadder to think that people have forgotten.