Paul Newman

My mom and I were just talking about him yesterday after seeing Nights in Rodanthe. I was comparing Richard Gere to Paul Newman in Message in a Bottle. He passed away last night. Not really a surprise since I’d heard he had cancer but still so very sad. He and his wife were a true Hollywood love story. I’ll miss his piercing blue eyes.

9/11

The only news show this morning talking about 9/11 is Fox. Everyone else is talking about the election, the dangers of crocs, and Hurricane Ike (who definitely deserves his 15 minutes of fame right now). Everything seems so normal. But this date will never be normal. The memories are burned into my brain as clearly as when I saw the Challenger explode, as clearly as the day our school principal announced the President was shot, as clearly as the day I sat with my brother at a memorial for John Lennon. But somehow, these memories are so much harder to think about. Somehow my brain still wants to think it was all just a horrible dream that everyone I know happened to have. But it certainly wasn’t a dream. It did happen. And today I feel the need to remember. Our FDNY tshirts are all faded and worn out. My husband bought it for me that October and all proceeds went to the Firefighters Fund. He bought one for each of us so that we could feel like we were contributing if even just in the smallest way. So today I’ll wear my Mary Poppins – Broadway shirt as a small way of remembering.

God Bless America