Thursday, September 10, 2009

How do I find the words?

Tonight I answered questions about the events of September 11, 2001. My daughter Julia (who is 8) had lots of questions about what happened. I tried to answer as honestly as I could. I walked a tight rope of making sure she understands the significance of what happened that day, without over sharing information that would scare her or send her empathetic little soul into overdrive.

I explained the best I could using words, and then let her watch a video (pre-screened of course) or two from that day. She handled it much better than I imaged but it was still overwhelming for her.

Anna (who is 5) had silently sat by listening, and I was aware of her observation so I had been tempering my conversation even further for her little ears. When watching one of the memorial videos and it was showing a lot of images of the Tribute of Light. I looked over my shoulder to find that she was sobbing. I was immediately worried that I had gone too far.

I asked her what was wrong... her response, "Momma, it's so beautiful. I bet those lights made a lot of people feel better."

Seriously - she's amazing.

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