9/11....

It seems fitting that today is a gloomy day, cold and rainy. I was looking all around last week for a 9/11 memorial and couldn't find one anywhere! I was irritated, wondering how people could just let that day fade in their memory. I need to teach Noah about what happened, but is he too young? When is a good age to teach your child about hate and meaningless death?

I finally thought that we could have our own way of memorializing 9/11. Instead of worrying about when to teach Noah about all the evil that was manifest that day, I decided that we will make a point of doing something nice for someone on 9/11 from now on.

We met Marianne and Bob at our block party a couple of weeks ago. They live 4 houses down but, I'm ashamed to say, we had never met in 7 years of living here. Turns out that they have a 32 year old daughter who is disabled and only leaves the house for doctor's visits. They said she likes to see new faces, so Noah and I went to meet Julie today. She is on a feeding tube and a ventilator, but she sure got a big ole happy smile to see us! She especially liked Noah and it looked like she was giggling with her eyes when he talked to her! We took our teaset and spent time with her mother too--just talking. We had a really nice time visiting. Spending time with Julie was a great way to start our tradition of doing something loving and nice on a day that has always brought sad memories.

It's good to remember that there have also been many blessings on 9/11, like my friend's brother Steve and lots of others who have this day as their birthday! When you think about it like that, 9/11 could turn out to be a nice day afterall.