And... another.

This is the story I feel like I tell the most, because it's so clear and vivid in my mind. It was Friday, my birthday, three days after 9/11. I was really fortunate to have family living very close by, because I probably would have gone crazy without people around me that week. They suggested we go out to dinner for my birthday, and even though it felt inappropriate to be celebrating something, I agreed that we needed the distraction. We decided to leave the neighborhood and drive to Williamsburg, because getting out of the neighborhood was another distraction. Dusk started to fall as we drove, and then slowly, one by one, people started coming out of buildings and houses and standing on the sidewalk with lit candles. It was if they were coming out to greet us. We drove slowly, and street after street, they came out. I joked that I was touched that so many people wanted to help me celebrate my birthday. It wasn't until we were almost at the restaurant that one of us remembered that the president had called for a national candlelight vigil/moment of silence. We hadn't listened to the radio or watched tv all day, having reached a saturation point. I can still see those candles floating along the sidewalks ahead of us as we drove.