September 11th

I was going through my emails this morning and my Mother in Law had forwarded an email to me that titled "where were you on 911". That day in 2001 had quite an impact on my life and I can tell you exactly where I was and what I was doing. I had just arrived at work and was settling in my office with coffee in hand and I had Man Cow on the radio (yes, don't judge me). In the middle of whatever he was talking about at the time (that part I don't remember), he reported that a plane had hit one of the towers. Now when I hear those words, the first visual that comes to mind is one of those little puddle hopper planes. I remember thinking someone just learned to fly and wasn't ready for the big time yet. I continued on with dealing with whatever was on my desk and then a few minutes later the second report, another plane just hit the building. Now of course, once was odd enough but two? So as people started arriving for the day, no one had heard the news yet so we decided to turn on the TV. That is my first visual of what was actually going on.

I remember sitting there stunned. Just stunned. What was going on? How was this happening in the great U.S. of A? I remember calling my mom at work who happened to live in Colorado at that time. The way I felt that day will forever be stuck in my memories. For better or for worse.

Then two years ago, Andy and I received the best news of all. We were scheduled to be induced on September 11th. Now at the time, we were trying to avoid that particular date like the plague. We were hoping the baby (we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl) would decide to come early or based on my first labor experience, that I would labor 17 hours again and it would take us into September 12th. But that didn't happen. Our baby wanted to make their debut on September 11th and so our daughter was born that afternoon with all 10 of her fingers and toes and September 11th took on a whole new meaning for us. We had been blessed with a beautiful baby girl to add to our clan.

Now on Saturday, September 11th, I will definitely think of the events that made that date infamous in 2001 but we also get to celebrate the beauty of life that day. Thanks to our incredible baby girl. Who has one of the best laughs in the whole wide world and who gives the biggest hugs ever. We love you Tootsie!