9/11 in NYC (A birthday to remember)

I remember like it was yesterday, September 11, 2001. Daniel had woken up and bolted to school earlier than usual. I thought that was strange as Daniel is always one to make it in to school right when he is supposed to be there.
I show up in my classroom to find my room decorated in Backstreet Boys posters and my podium covered in some kind of "Power Ranger" or "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" wrapping paper, I don't quite recall. All I kept thinking was how was I going to explain the backstreet posters to my students once class started. Daniel and Sarah (come to find out she was in on it as well, no wonder their married!!) pulled a birthday fast one on me.
Then another faculty member decided to put a birthday cake hat on me in the middle of the faculty meeting that morning; a hat that I was told I had to wear all day.
Then came the moment that will forever be ingrained in our minds, the terror events of 9/11. Needless to say, the birthday hat came off and melancholy filled the classrooms the rest of the day. We still managed to go out for a birthday dinner, but we were the only ones out.

Here I am six years later to the day living in the city where these unforgettable events occured and once again it's my birthday (I don't think that will ever change!). Thinking back I find the irony compelling that in 2001 I was beginning my career in the education world and a new chapter in my life and now I am in NYC in 2007 still in education but beginning another chapter in my life.

The day was obviously somber, it was rainy and memorials were going on all day and night. The crazy thing was that yesterday was one of the best birthdays I've had in a while. Although not surrounded by those I love and cherish dearly, friends and family, I still felt the love and care that my friends and family have for me. For that I was and am deeply grateful and humbled that I was thought of by so many yesterday. The best part of the day besides the countless emails , e-cards, and phone calls from my closest; it was the text messages from my students at St. David's that really touched me. It made me realize how much I love that school and the students I have had the blessing to teach.

So in essence, although somber, the Lord was awesome in allowing me to see His love through others. My birthday finally ended with a baseball game at Shea Stadium where the Mets beat the Braves much to Daniel's disappointment. It was a pretty cool place, but definitely a place I don't have any interest in going to again unless the Mets make the World Series and a ticket lands on my lap.

All in all, it was a great 29th for me. I wouldn't have traded it for the world other than to be with Moms on her 50th (which is also the 11th)!