September 11, 2007

Today was Sam's first real day of preschool. I got a little teary in the car driving away after dropping him off. My last baby is a preschooler. How did that happen? When did that happen? The time has gone by even faster with my last baby than it did with my first, if that is possible. I'm still blown away by the fact that I'm the mother of a 7 year old 2nd grader!

I am so grateful that I have been able to be at home with the kids all of this time. Today I went to volunteer in Ben's Kindergarten class. He was thrilled to see me and ran up and gave me a big hug. He absolutely *loves* Kindergarten. He is already making new friends and was talking to some other boys in his class during snack and playing with them on the playground.

Now a moment of remembrance. Every year on Sept. 11, I, along with every other American, I am sure, think about what happened on this day in 2001 and how the world will never be the same. Everyone has a story to tell about that day. Everyone remembers where they were when they heard of the horrible events. I was sitting at home alone with Will, who was 15 months old at the time, having breakfast. We hadn't turned on the t.v. or the computer, so we had no idea what was going on. Brian called and I asked him what time his flight was going to be coming in since he was scheduled to fly home from Houstan that day. He said that he wasn't going to be coming home today and to turn on the t.v. What I saw on the t.v. looked like some scene out of an action movie. People running and screaming on the streets of New York. The footage of the twin towers being hit by the plane. It was very surreal. I can't remember how our conversation went after that, but I remember walking around in a daze for the next few days. The playgroup that I had when Will was a baby got together at a park on a day that we didn't normally meet, just so that we wouldn't have to be alone. For the first time ever, I really felt like I had a shared history with every person I saw. We all had this tragedy in common. We will never forget.