20 years.  I remember so well going through the metal detector at the federal court build in Indianapolis.  The security guy telling me that the world trade center was hit by a plane and we assured each other it was a fluke.  A mistake.  Then, upstairs to my office and then into a judge’s chambers to watch the second plane hit and the buildings collapse on tv.

I remember trying to wrap my head around the unimaginable in the midst of distress, chaos, sorrow and worry.  But a tender memory from that time, in the days and weeks afterwards, midwest friends, neighbors, colleagues and acquaintances, remembered I was from there and asked how I was and how my family and friends were.  I had lived in Indiana since 1989, and it was never that easy being from New York.  People could be downright mean at times, talking about where I came from as if it was the pit of hell.  Not everyone but enough to make David and I shy about that ‘where are you from’ question.  During the days and weeks after 9/11, everyone became a New Yorker.  Suddenly, I was just like them because they were just like me.  I hadn’t expected that and I felt for almost the first time there, that I had community.

Julia was probably a few days shy of 9 months old on that day.  Just “probably” because so much of her orphanage file was untrue, there is no reason to believe they had her birthday correct.  If there was a way to turn back the clock, I heartily wish that we had been waiting to meet her at the end of 2001 instead of five years later.  

However, today.

Today, Julia is finished with her first week—a 2-day week—at Community Connections.  I heard from her Inclusion Facilitator that she resisted some of the group work on Friday, but Julia came home happy and could report on a few things she did during the day.  She really enjoyed walking in the community and is looking forward to buying ice cream with her  class next week.  I don’t know whether the last is what they are planning or what Julia hopes to plan.  She had a lot to say to her art tutor when she saw her after program on Friday.  And she is drawing a lot—again, a good sign.