remembering.

~~caveat: a rare somber-ish entry~~

i woke up on 9.11.01 to the sound of the phone ringing, it was dear, sweet heather phoning to alert us that we "were under attack." i will never forget it.

i remember looking at the official ticket for my first ever (nevermind that i was 25 at the time) madonna concert and thinking, could a madonna concert truly ever be the same?

of course, that evening's concert was cancelled, but rescheduled for that saturday. and clearly, i was afraid to go, because if you were a terrorist and you were still planning an attack, wouldn't that be the FIRST place in LA you'd want to target? i mean, a madonna concert at the staples center? it was like a veritable gold mine of lascivious americans!

but let me tell you now, in hindsight: i've never been so excited to be with my fellow americans, singing "like a virgin." because, if you think about it, we were. it was everso apropros.

it was my first day officially being the "boss" of four of my co-workers. one by one, they called me to check in to see if they needed to come in to work that day. i remember being confused about being the boss, but i knew under no uncertain terms, it was a day for them to stay home. it was my first big decision as a manager.

i remember driving aaron to the doctor so he could be treated for the brown recluse spider bite(s) on his chest. i barely slept through the night because i was (after carefully scouring the internet searching brown recluse spider bite symptoms and worst case scenarios) most certain he was going to either be a) paralyzed or b) comatose. it seemed worth the risk to venture out and get some sort of anitbiotics to treat the ailment. (ps. he lived, but it was intensely scary, at any rate)

finally, what i remember the most clearly, was seeing a bunch of personages on TV, standing on the stairs of some building, most likely the white house or somesuch, singing "god bless the USA."

and i remember most vividly, in that moment, feeling more (bittersweetly) proud to be an american than i ever had in my entire life.

i never WANT to FORGET that feeling. EVER.