Monday, September 11, 2006
Remembering 9/11
A few weeks after September 11th, I wrote a letter to Perry. He was almost 3 at the time. Here is what I wrote to him about that day. It is posted in his scrapbook so that he will always remember....
I was at work watching everything on television and all I could think was that I needed to go to daycare and pick you up. I knew you were safe, but I wanted you to be with me. I left work, picked you up and then we went and picked up Grandma and went to lunch. I just didn't want you to see anything on the television while you were awake, but the minute you went down for your nap that day, I turned the TV on and couldn't stop watching everything that was happening to our country.
Daddy's airplane had just landed in St. Louis when the attacks started happening in New York. Daddy remembers talking to Mommy shortly after the attacks happened and how upset she was... we were both upset because nothing like this had ever happened before and we knew the world you were going to grow up in would be very different from that moment on. Well, luckily Daddy had rented a car that day in St. Louis, which he normally didn't do on those trips, because when they closed all the airports across the U.S., he just hopped in the car and drove for four hours to get home... WHEW! Daddy was so glad to be home where you and Mommy were rather than being stuck away from his family like so many other Mommies and Daddies were at that time.
That same night, Daddy and I were up with you a couple of times (you woke up crying). That was very unusual for you, but we just chalked it up to bad dreams, one of them being about a thunderstorm. You kept saying you saw a thunderstorm. Well, it kind of struck me weird that you were talking about a thunderstorm because earlier when we did have the TV on after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, just during our dinner time to catch the news, you said "that building got hit by a thunderstorm." And we were saying "that's right" thinking that you need to think that and nothing else. And you normally don't fear thunderstorms. Anyway, the next night you were playing Legos with Daddy and although we had not had the TV on at all while you were awake, you were building a tall building and you said... "Daddy, I build a tall building with no thunderstorms." We couldn't believe how you had made the connection and how that image stuck with you and put a fear in you. Which then put a firm belief in me that an almost 3-year old is much smarter than we think they are and we really need to be careful about how much they see on TV.
Take no day for granted, Perry. Celebrate each and every moment by being fully present in it. By doing this, you will bring honor to the memory of those who lost their lives - and you'll bring more meaning to your own.
2 Comments:
I remember us all talking about this, and I remember the legos and the building.
I remember us all talking about this, and I remember the legos and the building.
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