Time Flies

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of The Girls baptism.  It has always been a day of mixed emotions - while I remember Sept 9, 2001 fondly, I will always tie it  to September 11, 2001.
I will be forever thankful that our family who came for the baptism flew home on September 9 or (were scheduled for) September 12, no one was in the air on September 11.  I remember my new mom expectations, that we would light her baptismal candle every year  (we've done it maybe once).

Sept 9, 2001 was a beautiful, sunny day--very much like September 11--the beauty of September days just can't be matched. We took a lot of pictures on Mr. IM's uncle's deck.  We stuffed The Girl into a hundred year old baptismal gown and her great grandparents, her grandma, Mr. IM's aunt and uncle, and my brother held her for many photo opportunities.  Those are still some of my favorite photos-even though the quality isn't fantastic-but because the looks on the great grandparents faces are so wonderful (The Girl was the first great-grandchild). I have absolutely no memory of September 10--I assume I did new mom things--picked up the house a little, napped, took care of The Girl....

September 11 is tied up in a mixture of horror and hope.  I've told the story before, but I was home, still on maternity leave, planning to have lunch with Mr. IM and his grandparents, when the horror started.  My reaction, as a new mom, and I guess as a human, was to grab my child and want to hunker down at home.  I called Mr. IM's grandma and expressed that wish and was  told something like, "I went out to lunch on December 7, 1941 and we're going out to lunch today...get dressed, lets go".  I will always have that idea of "we will get through this" tied to September 11 as well--and I am always thankful to Grandma M for "making" me go out to lunch. (That was also the day she taught me about which bathroom stalls to use, but that is a story for another day)

So on this, another September 9, I choose to remember the beauty and the hope.