A day of reflection

Good morning world. What a beautiful morning it is here in the Northeast Kingdom. The sun is shining, my children are off to school, and I am drinking coffee and eating a muffin. However today is also a day when we as Americans must reflect. I can't help but imagine how the families of the victims of Sept. 11 are feeling today. I awoke today to see the pictures on the news, and as I drove through town I drove under a huge American flag hanging over main street. It is amazing how we live in a country where even in tragedy we band together, in love and in rememberance.

In my family we plant things to remember events. As my mother became a grandmother she started marking the birth of each grandchild by planting an apple tree in her backyard. As babies her and my step-father would walk them out to the trees and tell them it was theirs. As they got older they could watch apples grow and know that tree is as old as they are. I always thought that was such a great tradition. Last year when my grandparents passed away three days apart, a relative sent a card. In the card was a paper that said a tree had been planted in their name in Yellow Stone National Park. My grandmother was always the first person to start planting flowers at the cemetary, in the spring for our loved ones. Now we plant flowers for her at her and grandpas headstone. Now at 33 I finally get it. We are planting new life. As the plants grow, we know why they were planted. We can look at something beautiful and remember those we have lost, and whom we still love. I think this gives us comfort, and I hope anyone who is reading this, will stop and think about it for a moment. If you have never even planted a flower, maybe today is a good day to start.