None of my children were here that day. I was hugely pregnant and on bed rest with my oldest daughter, Daisey.
I remember watching the news in horror throughout the day. I bawled, as the realness began to set in. I felt such sorrow for those who had lost their lives and for those who had lost their loved ones. I felt fear for what might happen next . Being pregnant, I felt fear for my unborn child. I was soon going to have a little person to love and keep safe. How could I keep her safe from something like this? How could I bring a child in to a world filled with evil?
Daisey came in to our lives 8 days later and filled our lives with joy. I realized that life must go on. I felt a great sense of pride that I would bring something so beautiful into this world filled with evil. Although there is ugliness in this world, there is also beauty and joy.
As my children get older they have more and more questions. Especially that ten year old! Daisey is a girl who just HAS to know WHY! Seeing as how I don't fully understand myself why all these terrible things happened, it's difficult to try and explain them to my children.
Earlier this week we had a conversation that went like this, "But, WHY would those bad guys fly airplanes in to the buildings? Why do they hate us so much?"
"I don't know," I reply, feeling very unsure how to continue to this conversation.
"Didn't they know that they would die too?", my Isaac asks.
"I guess they did. And, it's very sad. Sometimes people makes bad choices and do bad things."
"But, we know not to do bad things, huh Mom?", Maggie chimes in.
Well, there you have it. If there is one thing that they can learn, it would be that violence is never the answer. If I can teach my children to love their fellow men, then I will feel like I've done my job.
I have tried to focus on the positive side and tell my children about all the heroes who saved lives that day and how our nation came together. I've tried to teach them that we can remember and honor the lives that were lost that day.
I'm not saying I know all the answers, or that I even handled this the right way. Being a parent is a tough job. Kids don't come with a manual. It would be nice if they came with a guidebook filled with answers to the endless questions they ask! Until they come up with one, my husband and I will continue to roll with the punches in this adventure called Parenthood!
This is a video I watched with my kids on nickelodeon.com. I felt like it was helpful in answering their questions, but in a sensitive manner without scaring them.
http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/nick-news-what-happened-the-true-story-of-september-11th-full-episode.html
May we never forget.
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