Five years ago today, my dad died. A year after that, of course, my personal grief remembering him on that anniversary was overtaken by shock and horror at the terror attacks. In 2002, I was at Disneyland on this anniversary and stood with Mr. Karen when then park shut down for a silent remembrance at noon. The next year, I’d just finished a memory quilt for a woman whose husband died in the World Trade Center attack and especially thought of her and her son. Last year, I cried when I thought about much less saw the empty boots and coat placed out front of the fire station I pass on the way for work, next to the banner that said “we will never forget”. And we won’t. Life for those of us who are still living goes on, of course, but we’ll pause on this date and think of those who aren’t with us. Today, I think of my dad and the terrorists’ victims and the families and friends they left behind and also the people in Louisiana and Mississippi, who are living through tragedy of a different kind.
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