No, I have not forgotten about September 11. It is just too painful to talk about it and too painful not to talk about it. It was a turning point. A marker. An upheaval of the worst kind. Other than on the radio (CBC of course), I hear little about it here in Nova Scotia. On the first anniversary of 9/11, I gave an alternate homework assignment to use it as inspiration for a drawing. Most students said they were tired of hearing about it and did another assignment. Only one felt the way I did and she was a “mature student” (i.e., over 25).
But September 11 is also the birthday of one of my closest, oldest friends, an old boyfriend (he’s not old, only 57 now), my first relationship after the end of my marriage. We are still good friends. I cannot imagine what it would be like to share a birthday with such a catastrophic event. Especially when his life has been and continues to be so difficult, being confined as he is to a wheelchair and slowly losing the use of his hands as well because of progressive MS. He is a very talented artist, a voracious reader (sends me books after he has read them), someone I still enjoy talking to, always perceptive, always slightly irritable. A tower that could crumble any minute. A very sad situation.