I've been thinking, wondering, considering about how to mark 9/11. I know that last year I, like many people in this country and all over the world, spent days glued to the t.v. screen waiting for any one small tangible bit of information. Waiting in vain to hear stories of rescues that never happened. And watching those damned planes over and over again sticking their pins into the bubble of security that we as a country had wrapped ourselves in. My family was fortunate, we did not loose anyone we knew, though citizens of both our towns flew out of Boston that day. But I don't think that that makes the reality...unreality...of it any less strange.

Has it really been a year?

Irina was not old enough last year to really understand what was happening, and while I know that she has been exposed to it I don't want her to be subjected to the constant barrage that will be shown tomorrow. So I have decided that on 9/11, we will not turn the t.v. on at all. We will visit with friends, we will paint more fabric, we will play games and listen to music. And the t.v. will stay off.

And I will hug her as often as she will let me.