I will announce the giveaway winner in a minute, but first I wanted to share a few thoughts on this Monday morning….

I sent my oldest off this morning to overnight camp with his school grade.  He was so excited or nervous that he hardly stopped to hug me goodbye.

It made me feel a little sad and wistful as he ran off with his friends… knowing that he’s growing so fast and I can’t stop time.

Yesterday was the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 and I’m sure I was in good company in looking back over the past decade and reflecting.  My little guy had just turned one on that day ten years ago.  He was playing on the family room floor while I ironed my husband’s work clothes that morning.  The Today Show was on, but I wasn’t paying it any attention until they cut away to the report of the plane flying into the first tower.  I remember thinking, how could a plane accidentally hit a building?  Then the second plane hit, and with it came the dread knowledge that it was no accident.

I remember feeling that the world had somehow changed.  That it wasn’t as safe as it had been.  I remember wondering what kind of world I would be raising my family in.  Within days of 9/11, I found out to my great shock, that I was pregnant again. (I didn’t know for a few months that it was twins.)  I felt apprehension and worry at what the future would bring.

But somehow life does go on.  Children grow.  There are soccer games and ballet recitals.  There are camping trips and building snowmen in the wintry front yard and quiet summer mornings on a porch swing.

Life has a way of reasserting itself.  There are so many lovely moments and yes, there are tragic days too.  But either way life goes on.

As my son ran off this morning, I thought of how I will hug him when he gets home.  How I hope he will snuggle up with me on the sofa and tells me of his adventures at camp.

If we didn’t know it before, we learned on that day ten years ago, that life is fragile and finite.  And because of that knowledge, I hope I have lived, and will continue to live deliberately each day.

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And now for a winner of the $50 Tiny Prints Gift Certificate Giveaway.

Congratulations to Vicki:

I can’t think of a better gift for a grandmother!

I’ll be sending out your gift certificate code later today!

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