I’ve always thought that setting a day aside to do ordinary things is a good way to mark September 11 since 2001. I take the day off from work, although working is a pretty ordinary thing. In the first couple years I went to an event, but to me it wasn’t a necessary part of my observance. I like having a quiet day to remember what happened. I can read emails from the days after the event. I thought about waking up in the middle of the night between the 11th and 12th, 2001 because a plane was flying overhead. What a bizarre thing.
Today I woke up before all the observances began and saw just a few televised moments of names being read, crowds of people gathered together. Then I went off to my day. I thought I would mow but instead managed to saw down quite a number of small weedy trees. I discovered that dog roses can have 4 inch trunks. I had no idea! I realized that not only does next year’s garden have to have better fencing, but it must have tomato cages to raise up the plants from the ground.
When I couldn’t do any more of that work, under that pure blue sky so reminiscent of 2001, I went in, enjoyed a bit of lunch, chatted up the cats and headed off to work on my quilt. I got the facing on last night so it was ready to go today. I pressed. I sewed the facing to the seam (remembrances of dressmaking). I trimmed, I turned and I pressed some more, this time with a pressing cloth.
Well it looks pretty darn good, even with its dangling thread so I hung it up and took a few photos.
At seven pm I went out and lit 5 candles to honor all the memories of the day. I thought of all of the vigils that were held in 2001 and ones I’d been part of. When I went out much later, two of the candles had gone out, so I renewed all of them so they could keep the moon company and perhaps make a passerby think about the day.
Well, I guess I’ve got miles of hand sewing to do now, so it’s off to bed with me.
