Remembrance

It seems that as the years pass, people are forgetting September 11, 2001. On my street, I only saw two flags displayed - one of which was ours. I did not see any notices of memorials in the paper, nor much else to mark the day. Granted, life does go on, but it is a day that MUST be remembered, not forgotten. I am certain that those affected the most by 9/11 have not forgotten. I will not let my children forget. Heck, they didn't know what Pearl Harbor Day was until the movie came out....let's not let 9/11 be just another date on the calendar. Yes, it was tragic. It was horrific. It was awful. But we have to remember.

Our September 11, in addition to being a day of remembrance, was also a day of celebration. My entire family gathered together to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday. There was food, music, happiness. People took new family photos and looked at old family photos and tried hard not to chuckle at appearances 20, 30, 60, 80 years ago. There were actually 90 candles on the cake with no fire extinguisher in sight. With the help of a couple of the grandkids, including LargeBoy, he managed to blow out all 90 before the wax became a new layer on his cake. My grandfather is a candy hound and always has plenty in stock, so for his 90th birthday, he received 90 bags of candy. I think that should hold him for a while. It was a very momentous day!

Later that afternoon, and into the evening, PC and I ripped up the carpeting on my stairs. Oh it was gross. The dog hair, cat hair, and all of the dirt just from everyday traffic made this a very gritty and dusty process. With the exception of the staples in the ground, the carpeting is up. The only thing left to do now is to remove the staples, sand, and perhaps re-stain the stairs. The hardwood underneath the landing was beautiful, but the stairs were covered in a coating of goo. Another project for another day.

Throughout the day, the kids were noticing the lack of memorial around the day. So last night, after all was said and done, and SmallBoy was tucked away in bed, the four of us sat down and watched the HBO special "In Memoriam" and remembered. We watched in silence. We shed some tears and relived some of the painful memories of that day....but we refused to forget, only to remember.

There are horrible things going on in our world today - London bombings, Hurricane Katrina, Iraq, and so many more, including the things that go on everyday in third world countries unnoticed by the rest of us. Let us always remember those things so that perhaps we can all learn from them and live a better tomorrow. Let us remember those who lost their lives not knowing what was happening, and those who went in to help knowing that there was an enormous chance they would never return. Let us remember their loved ones. Let us also rejoice in the fact that we have survived, that the sky is still blue and that the sun still rises in the morning and sets in the evening. Let us remember to love each other and to keep living until we have lived all that we can - 90 would be nice, like my Gramp.