September 11, 2001

I started to write about this day and had to delete the entire post because DH showed me that my memory of the days surrounding this attack was flawed.  I had indeed forgotten some of the chronology of events.  What I do remember still are the emotions that I felt.

I felt anger at the perpetrators for interrupting so many lives, including my own.  We had gotten engaged in the wee hours of September 10, 2001, and I had only a day to share my news and joy before this national tragedy struck.  I felt saddened for those whose lives were not only interrupted but ruined.  I cried alot hearing the stories of loved ones lost, lives that were forever changed, children who would never know a parent.  I felt anxious.  We had a friend who lived in NYC and worked in the financial district.  I tried to reach him as soon as I heard about the attacks.  It wasn't until early evening that I finally heard from him. He was okay, but shaken.  I felt confused, and even guilty.  The attacks were so overwhelming and senseless.  They tinged my happiness with devastation.  But my life would still continue while so many others wouldn't.

Although I had forgotten much and had not thought much about September 11, 2001 in the past few years, I still remembered some minute details, especially those from the stories of the United flight 93 passengers.  I remembered that one was a father of two boys and his wife was pregnant with their third child.  He was the one who said, "Let's roll" before the passengers attacked their hijackers.  I remembered that another man's wife had just had a baby a weeks before.  As I watched anniversary coverage on the news this weekend, I remembered these stories and more before they were retold.  As I watched the images of people in the windows of the World Trade Center towers and heard the calls to 911 dispatchers, all of those emotions that had lain dormant in my memory for ten years flooded back.  With them came tears that I just couldn't stop.  I cried again for the loss, and I cried for all that hadn't changed in ten years.  These attacks were supposed to be a wake up call.  We were going to change for the better, make the world a better place for future generations.  I cried because things seem worse, or just as bad, and not better.  I hope, though, that the world will still someday change for the better, and as long as we do still remember that day there will still be hope.

Where is the Tooth Fairy?

We just moved a few houses up the street -- a more difficult undertaking than moving out of state.  We finally got everything into the new place in the middle of last week.  Then, last Saturday Yaya lost her seventh baby tooth.  I was busy unpacking and organizing things, but we were all excited when she showed us the tooth and hoped that there would be something special to go with tooth number 7.  She had no doubt that the Tooth Fairy would find her in our new home because earlier in the summer the Tooth Fairy visited her when she lost a tooth in Louisiana.

Alas, the Tooth Fairy is not as good as one might hope.  At about 6:20 on Sunday morning, I heard a cracking voice say, "Mom, the Tooth Fairy didn't come!" I was still groggy, but in the instant realization that I had forgotten to sneak in her room with a dollar, I said, "Oh, shoot!  She must have gotten mixed up because of the move.  Maybe she'll come during the day or tonight.  She's probably still looking for us."  I felt so dreadful to be the cause of such disappointment, but although Yaya was still tearful, she was willing to wait and see before loosing all hope.

We got dressed and headed to church, where she related her tale of woe to everyone she encountered. At the end of liturgy when everyone else went next door to coffee hour, I snuck out, ran to the toy store for a "so sorry" gift, and ran home to slip it and a dollar under her pillow.  I returned to coffee hour to find I wasn't missed at all, and when we all returned home later, Yaya was ecstatic that the Tooth Fairy had not only shown up and left a dollar, she had also left a locket charm that we had been eying for some weeks now.

And so all was well... until she arrived for the first day of school yesterday and a friend told her that "The Tooth Fairy is just your mom and dad."  Yaya vehemently refuted that statement, and all I could do when she looked to me was smile.  I wonder if she's going to be mad at me when she accepts the truth.

Robot Art

Find instructions to make your own robot art here.

Bad Mom Or Just Bad Chef?

I realized today that I am a bad example...

Bumble Bee was baking a pretend cake in her kitchen today.  She put on her oven mitts, opened the oven, and said, "Oh, no! It's burnt!"

Fortunately, I can make up for my faults by taking her to kids cooking classes.