September 11

We are enjoying a beautiful late Summer day here. The sky is impossibly blue, with a few very white clouds. The sun is shining, but the air is cool and comfortable. It is virtually the same weather as it was September 11, 2001.

It makes me slightly sad that gorgeous fall days in September will be forever linked in my mind with that horrific day. At the same time, I feel compelled to remember, and if that's the reminder for me? So be it.

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but September 11th in the area around New York City is a very personal tragedy. We are prime commuter territory for NYC, and there were thousands of people who worked in or near the World Trade Center. Everyone I know has at least some personal connection with the tragedy - either they lost a loved one or almost lost a loved one, or they know someone who did. Everywhere you went in the months following, it was almost the only topic of conversation (including a memorable trip to McDonald's, overhearing a really heartbreaking conversation). And the number of stories that were basically, "there but for the grace of God..."; well, it's staggering. Someone had a fight with his wife and missed the train. Someone else was taking their kids to the first day of school (that and the fact that NYC was having a mayoral election that day may have saved many people). My brother-in-law had made the decision months before not to attend a trade show that was on one of the upper floors. What if...?

I believe we have a responsibility to the victims, and the survivors, to remember what happened. How you feel about the War on Terror, politics and politicians and policy - none of that really matters. Thousands of innocent people were killed; many, many of them made a choice to sacrifice themselves for others. Those facts are indisputable. So as you go about your business today, and as the official memorials are buried in the TV schedule, say a little prayer for the families and friends, for the survivors, and for our country. Just take a moment and remember.

(I'm sorry, I don't know the attribution for this picture. I hope they don't mind)

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

George the cat, picture of dignity and elegance. Or maybe not.

Tennis, Anyone?

John and I went to the Women's Final of the US Open (Tennis, not golf) on Sunday night. Considering I've only been to a handful of professional sporting events in my life, it was pretty cool. We'd been talking about getting tickets for the Open for years - John had an officemate long ago who was a tennis buff, and she infected him. And we live so close to NYC, it seems a shame not to take advantage of that on occasion. So when a friend said she had tickets she couldn't use...

Of course, Tropical Storm Hanna kind of made things complicated. The women's final was rescheduled from Saturday, 7pm, to Sunday, 9pm. Yes, it started at 9 at night. Ouch.
We, of course, were too "cool" to use the driving directions the US Open provided. No, we were smart enough to realize that the shortest way there was through the Holland Tunnel, across the tip of Manhattan, and thence over to Flushing Meadows. It's Sunday evening, how much traffic can there be?

Notice I said "shortest", not "fastest."

It took us 2.5+ hours to get there. We arrived in the parking lot at 9pm, when the match was supposed to start. Thank goodness for all the hoopla that happened before the match. By the time we waited in line for the shuttle bus, took the bus to the stadium, ran into the stadium and found the proper entrance and went up the four levels to get to our seats, we'd only missed two or three points.

Did I mention that these were nosebleed seats? Row X? We were three rows from the top of the stadium, which, by the way, actually wasn't a bad view. It's raked sharply in the upper tier so every seat actually has a view of the court. The only downside of this is the 46 steps up to our seats were STEEP, and of course, we were trying to scramble up there quickly between points. I think it took me two sets to get my breath back.

It is cool to watch tennis live. You get a much better sense of how much power and control these players have. Since you're not switching back and forth between camera angles, you get a better view of the game as a whole. And of course, there's the added bonus of celebrity spotting. The only one I actually spotted live (as opposed to on the Jumbotron) was Venus Williams. Far away and much lower, of course. But it was fun to see them show all the celebrities on the screen and know that they were in there somewhere.

Did I remember our binoculars? No. How about a camera? No, unless you count my cellphone (which explains the fuzzy pictures).

But we were there!

Back in the Routine

What does it say when your husband tells you to update your blog more often? Maybe we should talk more...

We are on Day 3 of school - Day 2 if you only count full days. William thinks 1st grade is "fun". Yes, his words. Hope it lasts. Rachel is less enthusiastic. Her classroom is in a wing of the school that gets full sun, almost all day, so she came home just wiped out yesterday. And this is Rachel, who is always cold. JC, on the other hand, is psyched that almost all of his classes are in the one wing of his school that is air-conditioned. Woo Hoo!

I've had more homework than any of them. I thought I had a lot of forms before school started? Yow! Even more. The ones that make me grumpy are the free lunch and insurance forms. They require them to be returned to school, even if you don't want to apply for the program, to ensure that everyone got a chance. Ok, that's fine, but state that clearly and give me a box to check to make my intentions clear. Last year they did, but not this year. Somehow, I don't need the teacher and the office staff knowing our income, thank you very much. And of course, everything is multiplied by 3.

We've averted one crisis - Rachel got assigned to a different soccer team than she's been on for the past 5 years. A couple of emails to coaches, and a call to the Recreation department, and we're good to go on OUR team. But a moment of panic - we play soccer for fun, and it's much more fun when you know the girls on your team.

Have I made any progress on the piles of junk around the house? No, not so much. I did manage to file or deal with most of the pile on my desk this afternoon. But all this free time while they're at school? Poof! They're home again!

School Eve

It seems like the day before school starts should have a special name, so we can celebrate it (or mourn, depending on your point of view).

We have Christmas Eve, Halloween and New Year's Eve (which have become the party), why not School Eve? And even though it falls on a different date, depending on your school district, there could be appropriate recognition and parties.

And then the next day, the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, all the stay-at-home moms go out for coffee together. I would say a drink, but 9am is a little early for that. Even though it's 5 o'clock somewhere.

I'm debating the pros and cons of taking the kids out to dinner (last night of summer!) vs. eating at home (quiet evening!) I'm realizing I have probably 3 forms per child that still haven't been filled out and need to go in backpacks tomorrow. I'm realizing we need to load up backpacks tonight, and find healthy snacks since the first day is a half day. And we need to lay out clothes for everyone and set alarms and....

THIS is why the moms (and dads!) go for coffee. I don't know what working moms do, hopefully they can have a cuppa and a moment. But as rocky as the first day or two may be, I'm looking forward to a more stable routine.

Yeah, I know. Ask me in a couple of months how I feel about school. But at the moment, THIS is the real New Year's Eve. Any kid could tell you that.

Animal Farm

Our menagerie has temporarily grown. We are currently babysitting a guinea pig for friends - they're at Disney, lucky dogs.

Oreo is completely delightful. She talks and squeaks and likes to be petted, although she's a little skittish about us picking her up. So we open the cage door and pet her, and she practically purrs. We're going to go through a lot of baby carrots this week, William has been having them for snacks and sharing with Oreo.

The cats are fascinated.

I can't tell if they consider her prey, or if she's just triggering that "curiosity" gene all cats seem to have. But they have spent a LOT of time watching her, and poking a paw in the cage, and sitting on top of the cage. They'll lose interest for a while, then they're back, trying to figure out what this thing is.

Oreo is unfazed by the attention. Even when they stick a paw in, or sit on the cage, she seems unconcerned (although she stays out of reach). She's got a little house to hide in, but she really seems thoroughly complacent about these predators hanging out nearby. Is she naive, and unaware they are predators? Does she just have an itty bitty brain and not realize?

Who knows? But it's hugely entertaining for both people and kitties. We're watching WPIG this week - all guinea pig, all the time.

Olympic Hangover

Not an Olympic SIZED hangover, an Olympic hangover. See, even with the DVR, and skipping commercials and fast-forwarding through the boring parts (who needs to see ALL the laps of the mountain bike race? Or the whole marathon? Unless you're related to an athlete), we've been staying up WAY too late watching the Olympics. Yes, yes, I know I could go to bed earlier and catch up the next day, but then I'd still be watching, and it was already hard not to find out results before I watched the event. And as I kept telling the kids, no, you can't watch something else, the Olympics only happen every 4 years. And I'm watching NOW.

But now it's over. We watched the entire closing ceremony last night, and I let the kids stay up, and even though we deliberately started late so we could skip commercials, the kids wouldn't let me fast-forward through parts of the ceremony last night. So we were all up late last night, and fortunately had nothing planned for today (poor John had to go to work, of course). Now I'm catching up on blogs and the kids are watching TV and it's after 11am already.

We are SO going to be hurting next week when school starts.