Tuesday, September 11th

So here we are again on September 11th.  The difference this time is that it falls on a Tuesday, which of course was the same day of the week the actual event took place on eleven years ago.  There's that "11" again - even the number looks like the two buildings that collapsed, changing things forever.

Or did they really change?  Even today, new articles and voices are calling out, throwing blame here or there.  So much for that unity:  for a few weeks we were "1," but it didn't take long to become "11" again.  That's two separate columns, two lines divided by a gap they are unable to bridge.

Life went on as normal today, which is what everyone wanted:  let's just forget that whole mess and move on as if it didn't happen.  A good example of that would be NBC's broadcast of the moment of silence this morning:  it didn't happen.  They instead chose something else to show, the subject matter being the ultimate irony.

Each September 11th, it hurts to do so, but we all re-read the story and relive it.  We remember through new documentation the individual tales of heroism and tragedy, attempting to jar our minds as to what reality really is - and what we all try to forget, so that we can go on living our happy lives.

And we should live happy lives, of course.  But everything should be in balance as well, and I feel that we as a nation are too self-centered and divided.  We've been divided for quite some time now - reading books about John Adams, you can see that even back then there was a sharp political division.  Yet I don't think we've ever been so consumed with our own agendas before.  We're too blessed, I suppose.

Riots are going on in Libya and Egypt, filled with anti-US protests.  Terrorist organizations are flying their flags where our embassies once were.  This is the world where Madison is growing up, and it is occasionally quite scary when you think about it as a parent.  It's not the same world, even though we'd all like it to be.  And it wasn't the same world back then, even though we thought it was.

Today we didn't do much out of the ordinary:  Madison went to kindergarten, which she is loving.  And she's learning too!  Today she counted by tens for us, all the way to 100.  These small milestones are precious - things we've forgotten long ago.  But it is so wonderful reliving these small moments.

It was quite a busy day for her after school, first of all starting with piano class, and then following it:  ballet class.  She really enjoyed both, although piano is getting quite serious for Mommy.  She's trying to keep up, which means she herself is going to have to really practice a lot as well!  We'll have to give her some Mom-bucks too!  The picture above was taken at ballet class, and shared later on the social network, so I'd thought I'd post it here too.  Cute little ballerinas on their first day of class!

Tonight before bedtime, we tried something new:  listening to a story on CD.  It's not just a short story though:  we chose "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg," a book about Tinkerbell, Prilla, and other fairies in Neverland.  She enjoyed listening - we all did.  We sat together in her bedroom quietly listening to chapter one, and things seemed to go well for our first attempt.  Tomorrow is chapter two, and hopefully this will be something fun we can do from this point on from time to time.

We actually own this book, and it is filled with wonderful illustrations as well - we'll be sure to share them with Madison as well.  It's a nice place to go for a while to escape reality, Neverland.