Ironing a Shirt

A son’s 25th birthday celebration. All the kids home for the weekend. Laughter, discussions, more laughter. Beautiful fall weather. A lunch hour swim. A late afternoon bike ride. A phone call, an e-mail, a card in the mail. A drive through the neighborhood. These are among the memories of the last few days. Life doesn’t get much better.

And yet today, September 11, 2004 is also a time of reflection over the past three years. I can remember ironing a shirt a couple of days after the towers fell in 2001. Seeing the wrinkles disappear some how brought comfort. Sometimes when I wear that shirt I still remember that night.