A Decade to Remember

The PS3 network has been down for 18 days now. It hasn't affected James so much. He's 15, tons of homework, quizzes, tests.

Joe has hit a brick wall. I fear for my son if the US Armed Forces is tracking Call of Duty. The kid is a sharp shooter. At one point, there was a clan named "Fuck Joe Litchhult." Nuff said.

Playstation Network has been down for 18 days since it was hacked. Fortunately, I don't store my credit card information online so it hasn't really affected me. I have been enjoying the additional talking time with Joe. He's totally bored so he's spending more time with me. I'll take it anyway I can get it.

With the events of this week and the lack of PS network, we have spent time discussing the events of September 11. Joe was two, James was five and a half. When you are five, the half is uber important. At the time of the events, after attending many funerals, after watching the news coverage that week, James wisely and succinctly said at that time, "Mom, you shouldn't watch this any more. It makes you so sad." From the mouths of babes.

On Sunday night, I was weeping watching the announcement that Osama had been caught and killed. James knew the source of my sadness. Are you all right, Mom? Are you OK?

Tonight, as the news coverage continued, Joe asked me, did you know anyone who died that day? What did we do that day? I told him. I watched the announcement from the Today show by Katie Couric as I fed you your yogurt. I remembered getting the announcement that the school was in lockdown. When your first grader goes into lockdown, it scares the crap out of you. When I tried to talk about all the friends I lost that day, I burst into tears and asked him if we could talk about this at another time. He just nodded.

Can you believe it's been 10 years? I cannot. My son was in first grade. Now he's in high school.

In any event, don't kid yourselves, folks. The pain is still being worked through. For those that get impatient, chill out. Time heals all wounds. How much time is needed is determined by the person suffering, not by you. So to those who say it's time to move on, go ahead. Some of us need more time.

18 days. 10 years. The two experiences have absolutely no relation to each other in consideration of importance AT ALL. Don't misinterpret me. I am just making an allusion to how the passage of time affects people. Your 18 days is my decade.

Everything is relative.