On: A Letter to a Long Ago Friend

I was thinking about you today, and then pictures of your kiddos popped up on my newsfeed. As a person who hasn't ever particularly thought people's kiddos were cute, I've got to say, you and Andrew have made some gorgeous little ones.

I've missed talking to you, and wish that we could have stayed in better touch. I often wonder how it is that we managed to remain close the whole time we lived on opposite coasts, yet as soon as we're on the same coast our lives seemed to have taken us in different directions.

I realized today I no longer know what you do in your spare time or what interests you. The person who was with me through some of my most difficult experiences in life, I don't know anymore.

I'm sure you're just as amazing as you were then, but I find at times it feels like a piece of me disappeared when we stopped talking. 

I'm happy and healthy, and I have a great life. A life so much better than I ever expected it would be after losing G.

I gave birth to my son just under seven hours before G's ninth birthday. I like to believe one brother helped the other into the world.

I hope your life is as happy as mine, and that your dreams and goals are everything you wished them to be all those years ago.

Maybe someday, we'll be able to catch up again, because even though I've made new friends, great friends, there is always a place in my heart where you belong.

R.S.

On Remembering 9/11/01

Everyone seems to remember where they were and what they were doing when the planes crashed into the towers. I know where I was (at home) and what I was doing (sleeping).

Every year we focus on the fateful day, on the people who were sacrificed, and who have sacrificed everything since then.

It was our darkest day, and now we strive for the light.

Being close to the military brings an added layer to the memories. All day today I was surrounded by the men and women who have fought on the front lines. The men and women who proudly sacrifice not only their personal lives and their time, but are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so the rest of us don't have to--in the hopes we never again experience such tragedy.

I wasn't in New York, Pennsylvania, or D.C. that day, and I don't personally know anyone who was, but here is a link to a blog from Meg Cabot, the best selling author of the Princess Diaries, and a person who was there when it happened. It's a touching and emotional story that should be read and shared every year.

Today isn't completely about the past. It's about the present and the future. Each of those 3000+ people who lost their lives on 9/11/01 had dreams. Dreams that will never come true. We have that chance--the chance to make our dreams come true.

The question is, what are you going to dream?

R.S.