Inspiration

It's a hard time of year for everyone because of the events of eight years ago. I can't watch the coverage. It's not that I don't want to ignore it and pretend it never happened; it's that I can't bear the physical pain I feel for the people who lost their loved ones. You'll remember that I was at Miss America when this happened. (We wrote a book about it.)Being isolated from my loved ones made it a difficult thing for me. I take my kids to the Healing Fields every year. I talk to them about patriotism. This year's conversation began like this:

Me: Claire, this is a special day for our country...
Claire: Oh! Becky [her babysitter] likes country music and primary songs.

It got better after that.

9/11 is also my big brother Jake's birthday. We had fun at his school's carnival (way to celebrate the principal's birthday!) and teasing him about being 30.

Then today I saw this man's story of how being a 9/11 survivor has changed his life for the better. It still feels heavy to watch, but it's truly inspirational:


And to make things great I found Paul Cardall's blog. He's a well-known LDS musician who has been waiting for a heart transplant for over a year. You know that I'm a huge proponent of organ donation, so his blog was extremely touching. He got a new heart, and all signs are positive. His blog is so great. Check it out when you have an hour or so to browse through it.