9/11: One of those days...

It's one of those days where I cant go near the computer. I cant watch the news. I cant even listen to the radio. All of the posts, the memories, the news stories are almost too much. I get teary eyed thinking about all of the people who died on September 11th. I get heartbroken when I think about the families that were effected. and then it gets personal when i think about all the friends I've met who have husbands like mine who fight against anything like this ever happening again. Some of those friends have husbands who are firefighters, engineer of the year, to be exact. some of those friends have husbands in the reserves, the air force, the coast guard, the army; some of those friends are in the military themselves- women stronger than i can ever imagine being. on days like this my heart swells. swells with pride and love for these people and swells to try and hold it together when my four year old says, "Look mommy, that flag is down. How come?"

How do you explain 9/11 to a 4 year old?

I choose to explain that a flag at half-mast is a reminder to pray.

"When someone..." me. 

"Gets dead?" her. 

"Yes baby. When someone dies, sometimes we lower the flag to half-mast as a reminder to pray for that person and for their whole family. One this day a long time ago, a lot of people died. So the flag is lowered today to remind us to pray for them. And that's why your daddy is a soldier. To make sure nothing like that happens ever again."

 

I want to protect her from any pain. And for her little heart, that means sparing her the details right now of what happened on that day. I know that one day she will ask more questions and I’ll have to tell her a little more. But this time, it was just one of those days where I kiss my babies an extra time; squeeze my hubby a little tighter and thank God for the blessings in my life.