Tomorrow is September 11th. For the last week or so every station, show, interview or interviewer is discussing the 10th anniversary of September 11th, 2001. I know where I was at that exact moment the world changed, I remember when I came home after that very long day, the very first image I saw on CNN was someone jumping to their inevitable death. I remember it all. The days and weeks to follow, there are so many images that are now resurfacing that bring back all those memories to the front of our hearts and minds.

I remember going to New York that October with my friend Lori, who worked in lower Manhattan and when we went down to Ground Zero, it was still smoking. It was crazy, because I remember wanted to take pictures, but thought that it was disrespectful to do that. Tomorrow finally there will be a memorial that can be photographed in a respectful way.
I remember a dream I had about my friend Corey, who was living in NYC at the time, trying to tell me that he was okay. I had my mom phone his mom a couple of weeks after and thank g-d he was fine, and I saw him on my trip that October. He is now married with three children and living in Toronto.

But….as I was sitting watching the View, I started to think about my OWN life, and what has changed or has happened to me in my life in the last 10 years. It is pretty crazy actually. I thought I would share some of my thoughts.

10 years ago:
– Mark had not married yet married Shawna. Of course that means that Zoe, Jaime and of course Ezra were not in my life. Since then, I have had the chance to have a great extended family and have been able to be a part of their lives as well.
– There was no facebook, and therefore hadn’t reconnected with so many people I now call friend again. As well, all the people I have met since that have changed my life.
– Blogging, twitter, linked in, texting, bbm…..what did we all do to connect before that time…LOL!
– I hadn’t met Brad yet. That didn’t happen until 2003 which of course had a huge affect on my life.
–  I hadn’t bought my condo yet and was still living at home. That wasn’t until 2004 and then not until 2006 until I moved.
– We still had Adath Shalom shule that we were a part of. It hasn’t felt the same since we stopped going there.
– My uncle Solly was still with us.
– Aviva was still with us. That is all I can say about that.

All of those thoughts just flew out of my head and onto the keyboard. If I thought about how much more there was going on in my life before September 11, 2001, I could be here for a long time.

I am sure that everyone will take some time tomorrow to reflect on the day.

Remember what you have today, what you had before that fateful day and everything that has happened in between.

Yesterday I was on my way to meet some friends in Unionville. Friends I haven’t seen in close to seven years. I was very excited and changed purses so that I could bring my camera to take pictures (of course me without my camera?).

Before I left I had to load up four garbage bags of stuff that I was getting rid of (save for another post). I had to load up the granny cart, purse over one shoulder and a big bag in my hand. Probably should have taken two trips, but that is a pain in the ass.

Off I go…. and while I am driving along Hwy 7 near the 404, I was at a red light and for some strange reason decided to look into my purse for something….WHAT?!!! NO WALLET?!!! I started to have a full on panic attack. My chest hurt, couldn’t breathe…crazy…

I had to turn around and go back home of course. Called the conceirge and asked if she could go up to my floor to check outside my apartment, in the elevator, the garbage bins…WHERE DID I DROP MY FREAKING WALLET…..or….leave it in my condo….which is probably where it was.

I love reading, but I must admit, it seems to be a summer thing for me, and maybe you as well. I know that summer tv really sucks, so there needs to be something to do at night…so reading it is.

Before I start sharing my summer 2011 book review, I should take a step back and share a few things.

I don’t really like hard cover books. I usually wait for the book to be available in softcover and then I buy it. I usually take books on vacay with me, and hardcover books are not great travelling companions. Also, I have to admit, the price of hardcover….

I am also possesive with my books. I barely break the spine in my books, and on the odd occasion I lend a book out I have to ask the person, “are books your friend?” It sounds crazy, and maybe it is…but it is my craziness. I also don’t like when my books are not returned. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. I wish it didn’t.

Okay…back to books. My summer of reading started in May when I went to California. I had been waiting very patiently for the soft cover of Emily Giffin’s book The Heart of the Matter to come out. I bought it for the trip. This is Emily’s fifth book, and the first one “Something Borrowed” was a movie that came out right around the time I bought the book.

The cool thing is, that even though the books are different stories, she throws in a reference from a previous book. It is very subtle and if you were a first time reader of her books, of course you wouldn’t know. I almost wasn’t expecting the reference, so when it was woven into the story I liked it.

I finished that book before the flight home, so I needed something to read on the flight home. So, in the bookshop at the airport, there was another soft cover book from another chick lit author I enjoy, Jennifer Weiner.

This book is called Fly Away Home. It also has an interesting twist. While I was in LA, the whole Arnold and the housekeeper saga began and this book is about a Senator who has an affair with an intern. In her acknowledgements at then of the book she says that this book came out 10 years ago, “before Silda Spitzer, Elizabeth Edwards, Dina Matos McGreevey” which we could add Maria Shriver to that list as well.

This book is very well written and I enjoyed it and would recommend it to those who enjoy Jennifer Weiner books.

Then I asked the question on facebook – what is everybody reading? The repsonses were amazing. I realized that I need to add some new authors and novels to my repetoire…..so…I embarked on a journey with “Sarah’s Key”.

It wasn’t a long journey because the book was so riveting, I finished it in less than one day. I started it on a Wednesday night and I stayed up until 1:45 am on Thursday night to finish it. I posted about it several times on facebook and so many others have read it as well, and also couldn’t put it down. A friend of mine admitted that she was late to come to my birthday party because she was reading it that day and couldn’t put it down.

If you haven’t read Sarah’s Key yet, go out and buy it, find someone to borrow it from and read it, you won’t be disappointed.

On Friday after I finished the book, I had to google more about the historical events in the book. It is a novel that is based on the real events of Vel D’Hiv.

I will continue my book reviews another time, it is time to log off and read before bed. I am currently reading A Secret Kept by the same author as Sarah’s Key – Tatiana De Rosnay.

to be continued…….