her lifetime

this year has been marked by many important events in my daughter's life. she went to sleep-away camp for the first time. she rode horses. she wrote her first play. she was a student of the month at her school. she turned 10.

and today as i spent time remembering the horror, and the grief of this day 10 years ago, i can't help also feeling that my daughter's life is irrevocably tied to 2001, as are all of the children born that year. they will always be "the 2001 children", the children born in a year of grief and anger, heroism and pride. and for every annual milestone they pass, our country will be marking a solemn anniversary. their lives forever shadowed by our grief and our memory.

when osama bin laden was killed, my husband and i drank a quiet toast that night. our daughter asked why we were celebrating. who was this man whose death we were drinking to. my answer was this. that this man hated our country with such vicious passion that he lashed out at us and tried to destroy us. that the united states had spent her lifetime trying to find him.

her lifetime spent looking for a terrorist. her lifetime spent fighting in countries she can't pronounce. her lifetime spent looking backwards at the new york skyline the way it used to look, and at traveling the way it used to be. and i can't help but feel that her lifetime will always be marked by that pivotal morning, on september 11, when hatred changed our world.