Remembering

This is an exciting weekend for us--my four pound preemies turn FOUR. Those scrappy little babies are now strapping little guys with massive personalities. I'm stunned that four years have passed!Reflecting on their four years and my subsequent experience as their mother fills my soul with humility and gratitude. Asher and Soren have given enormous depth and joy to my life and they have also done a remarkable job of revealing my weaknesses, which has given even greater purpose to my life. I want to live better--more generously and they help me do this.

I also can't help but reflect on the ten year anniversary of 9/11. Has it really been ten years? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was sitting in my parent's basement watching with groggy disbelief that the world was under attack? Jamie and I went to China just a few weeks after 9/11 and as a result, I feel like I missed out on the national grieving that took place in America. We were practically on a different planet in China and even though it was the experience of a lifetime, I miss that I wasn't there for my country. I missed out on many of the images and stories that were so intimately connected with that day and its aftermath. As I see those images and read those accounts as part of a nationwide reflection--I feel an ache so tender that my eyes are constantly welled with tears.

Have you seen the New York Times interactive map that allows you to put a pin on your location on 9/11? You can also write a few thoughts. It's a powerful visual packed with sincere emotion. I recommend taking a peak. Can you find me?

When Jamie and I knew that Asher and Soren would be born on 9/11 we were disappointed and yet...their birthday allows me to see the beauty in that day and to see in their wonderful faces the goodness that exists in the world.