A reason to celebrate

(Originally published on 9/11/06 in The Daily Jeffersonian.)

I'm celebrating today.
I've celebrated Sept. 11 since
1999. On that day my first
child was born.
Last Sunday, after company
departed following an early
birthday party for Christian,
my husband and I were watching
"Inside the Tower" on The
Discovery Channel. A plane
slamming into the World Trade
Center was being played,
which caught Christian’s attention.
I asked him if he knew what
was happening.
His response was elementary.
"That plane crashed into that
tower."
A lot of people died when
that happened, my husband and
I told him.
Interested, I decided to take it
a step further.
"That plane crashed into the
tower on Sept. 11."
"Oh. Last year?" he asked.
"No, the year you turned 2."
So now he at least knows the
date the planes crashed into the
towers was Sept. 11, which he
knows is also his birthday.
That's enough for a 7 year
old.
There are too many disturbing
aspects of 9/11 to tell a
first grader.
I don't want to shatter his
innocence by discussing something
he’ll eventually learn.
In the five years since 9/11,
Christian has gone from being
our only child to one of three
sons.
He grew a mouth full of teeth
and then lost 3 of them.
He learned to talk and backtalk.
He learned the alphabet.
He learned to ride a bike.
He started school.
He made some friends.
He doesn't need to know
about 9/11 yet...
In actuality, 9/11 is not a day
I think about until it rolls
around.
As the years go by, I return to
it just like everyone else when
the images reappear on the television
and news stories are
printed and broadcast .
Even executing this assignment
has been difficult because
I've not really thought a lot
about 9/11 for a while.
I watched an "Oprah" episode
a few months ago about a 9/11
widow who is suffering from a
shopping addiction in an
attempt to replace the loss of
her husband. How sad.
Something else negative post
9/11.
While my medium of work is
print news and most of the stories
I've come across have
intrigued me, I am drawn to
the visual. It's the still photographs
that I pour over like the
ones on the cover of this special
edition.
I recently purchased LIFE’s
Fifth Anniversary Expanded
Edition of 9/11 and it is filled
with lots of commentary (little
that I have read) and lots of
photographs (awesome). I will
keep it for Christian for his
9/11 "capsule."
In this business I see hundreds
of news stories unfold
every week and more than half
of those are tragic. After a
while it gets to you. There are
so many problems in the
world.
9/11 was an historical event,
but what about the situation in
the Middle East? Have we forgotten
about Iraq and
Afghanistan? And what about
the woman from Ohio who was
sentenced for cutting off her
baby's arms?
Evil lurks everywhere.
So I thank God for a distraction,
a miracle amidst the
chaos, and I focus on the good
stuff for a while.
I retreat to age 7.
Reading, writing and arithmetic
... riding bikes ... friends.
Thank you Christian for
being my calm reminder of
9/11.