Where were you...

...yesterday?
Evelynd had her first taste of mango in the morning.  Then, we started the afternoon with a visit to GG'pa and GG'ma.  GG'pa had recovered so quickly from his back surgery!  We were so glad to see him looking so well.  After our visit, I had to play for a wedding at Ducks Moorage (the sign said "Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown," but it was actually a really cool place), which is a houseboat community on the Columbia River.  It was nearly 100 degrees, but thankfully -- and surprisingly -- very little wind to blow my music around.  As far as I can remember, this was the first time I had to play while moving.  Every time a boat would go by, the dock would move; it took a little getting used to. 

When we got home, I felt like I had moved into a zoo.  Nature had invaded!  There were a ton of flies in the house trying to escape the heat (we had left a couple windows open accidentally) and spiders outside (as there always are) plus a family of raccoons (Peter counted five) had moved into the trees out front.  The baby raccoons were loudly calling for their mother for hours.  The picture below is really dark, but maybe you can see a couple of them:

As of this morning, the nest was destroyed and it looks like they have moved on.

...10 years ago?
I was in the shower when my youngest brother, Nick, called to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.  I told him that was not a funny joke, but after I realized he was serious I turned on the TV just in time to see the second plane crash into the second tower.  I was just starting my second year of law school, so I had to head to class and drove there with the radio on.  During the drive, I heard of the first tower's collapse.  When I got to school no one knew what was going on and everyone was scared.  During my negotiation class, the professor gave up and sent us all home.  I walked through the park the mile and a half home and tried to come to some sort of conclusions.  The only thing I could conclude was that the world was not the same as I thought when I woke up that morning.  The next few weeks were full of stories of heroism beyond what I could have imagined and images of atrocities beyond what anyone should ever have to endure.  Living out west, very few of us knew anyone who was in danger (my friend, Annabelle, worked near the Pentagon), but we all felt the weight of the tragedy as Americans and as humans.

...today?
We went to the Field of Flags at Salem's Riverfront Park.  This was a four day event that included Taps and a candle lighting every evening and various activities each day (military flyovers, ceremonies, canon firing, etc.).  There was a flag for each person who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks.

Some of the flags looked pale because the stripes were made up of the names of those who died.

I don't think Evelynd quite knew what was going on because she seemed more interested in eating her shirt:

By the end of the trip, Evelynd was almost asleep and holding her hat over her eyes.  Someday, though, she will want to know where her parents were on 9-11-01 and she can read this.  A lot has changed since that day.  I hadn't even met Peter and had no idea there was such a beautiful baby in my future.  The world may have changed on September 11, but it didn't end and there is still good.