6 years ago

6 years ago today I went to my last OB appointment before my daughter was born. It was the 1 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and it was very surreal. I drove into the parking lot of the doctor's office and where normally I had to circle around the parking lot to find a place to park, this time I had my choice of any space in the lot. It was deserted. It looked like I had come there on a Sunday. I guess even in Kansas, people were worried what the 1 year anniversary would bring. I went in to my appointment, not knowing it would be the one where my doctor decided that she had to be born this week. My blood pressure was getting too high. My doctor said I could schedule my repeat cesearean section for later that day or on Friday the 13th, her next surgery day. I chose Friday the 13th! I didn't want Juliana to always have the shadow of an awful event clouding her birthday. Her birthday would not always fall on a Friday,and this way, she could look at what most people see as an unlucky day, as her lucky day! I went home knowing that our lives would change in two short days, and worried a bit about what that would mean for my 2 1/2 year old Charlie, who truly was the center of our world at that time. I spent the rest of that day, and the next on "bedrest" cuddling with Charlie, reading to him, and watching movies with him. I tried to avoid coverage of the anniversary of 9/11. Today, I forgot it was 9/11 until I read the news online. Amazing what time does. Today it is business as usual, unlike 7 years ago when the world stopped for many, and 6 years ago when everyone was waiting for something else to happen. I hope time has been kind to all those who lost loved ones, and that they have again found a bit of happiness in their lives, even though the pain of their loss will have forever changed who they were.