9/11

Talking with our kids about tragedy will never be easy, but it will always be important.

A family's day of celebration became a nation's day of mourning.

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear collars and leashes.

still make cinnamon rolls from scratch every once in a while. And every time I find myself pushing the rolling pin over the dough, I imagine I'm flattening out the despair of 14 years ago to give way to rising hope. I inhale the divine aroma and faithfully wait for the magic of the rise, and I know when it’s time, the smell with fill my kitchen with pure wonderfulness.

We’ve pieced ourselves back together in a patchwork quilt of ragged emotions. The aftermath of 9/11 wasn’t easy for us, yet it was much easier than for some. People standing 50 feet away from Peter didn’t come home that night; he did.

Thirteen years later, I still remember, fondly, how New York used to be—but I can’t ever go back to it.