I'm sorry, but if you had a six day-old nephew who was this cute, you would paste him all over your blog, too. Right now this picture is up on my computer screen so that when I am frantically moving from document to document during this crazy last week in session before the election I occasionally accidentally run across it and grin all over again.
Cole Adam Bucher ushered in a new era in the Johnson family when he made his grand entrance into the world at about 5:45 a.m. MDT today. His granny describes him as "so sweet" and his grandpa says that by one view he looks like his mom and by another angle his dad (though granny suggested that he might have his Aunt Jenny's wild, stick-up hair! :)). He and his great-grandad share a birthday, 87 years apart. And, in my three hours experience as an aunt, I'm convinced it is the loveliest job in the world. Pictures will, of course, follow shortly, but the news is too precious not to share.
I'm sitting at my desk on this grey day and through the window I can see the flag on top of the Library of Congress flying at half mast. On the news they are replaying the footage from this day five years ago, and I still feel horrified as I watch it. There will be a lot of "where were you when you heard..." today, and, like all of you, I have a story to remember. September 11, 2001, marked the end of my first week interning on Capitol Hill, and I watched the second plane hit the south tower from an office mere yards from the U.S. Capitol Building. When the third plane hit the Pentagon, I felt a wave of panic. A news clip of the President today quoted his response to seeing the Pentagon burning--"The mightiest building in the world is on fire"--and those were my thoughts as I wondered what could possibly be next. I also realized afresh that I wasn't in Idaho any more, Toto. Suddenly the Capitol Building, one of my all-time favorite places, looked like an ominous bull's eye.
I remember going to sleep that night with the sound of blackhawks and fighter jets in the air, wondering if this was a taste of the new "normal." I remember the next day, driving past the Pentagon on the way to work and the smoke was still billowing, the ragged gash clearly visible from the freeway. I remember reading the September 11 papers on September 12 and how strange it was that the front page article had been about Britney Spears. I remember sobs of emotion catching in my throat unexpectedly at the slightest provocation--a flag flying on a bridge, a picture of a soot-covered first responder, a thought of those who waited in horror for their plane to crash, any mention of family or love or loss. I remember finding out a few days later that Flight 93 had indeed been headed toward the Capitol Building and a cold sweat broke out all over me.
I remember my first post-9/11 flight a couple weeks later and how everyone was so friendly despite the three-hour security line. It was as if they realized that the people they were standing next to might become their comrades in arms. I grabbed a sandwich at a restaurant near my gate, and there weren't enough tables so I shared with a stranger. In response to my saying I was from Idaho, he told me how he and some colleagues had rented a car and drove through Idaho on the way back from Seattle after 9/11 when their flight was cancelled. He thought Idaho was beautiful. I remember visiting Ground Zero two months later and ending up in Brooklyn because the trains had been rerouted due to the destruction in downtown Manhattan but there hadn't been time to change the maps yet. When we finally found our way there, how quiet it was! I remember choking up in December when one of the children whose father had died in the Pentagon on 9/11 flicked the switch to turn on the lights for the White House Christmas Tree.
Last night Jason and I watched some of the tv specials recalling that day. I wrapped myself up in blankets to feel safe. I feel eerily grateful to those people on Flight 93. Occasionally the unbidden sob still surprises me, and I can hardly believe that it has been five years. Of course it has changed my daily life in DC, where the word "security" has taken on a life of its own. But I think it changed me, too, making me more sympathetic. Things still feel more real. It roughly threw life into clarity and perspective. And today it is very important to me to remember.
As a wedding gift, a former co-worker gave us a gift certificate for dinner to celebrate our 1-year anniversary at Le Paradou. The restaurant aptly describes itself as an “adventure in intense flavors,” as well as "DC's finest contemporary French restaurant," and it does not lie on either score. We made reservations several weeks in advance (August 12 was a Saturday) and prepared ourselves for an exotic culinary exploration. Besides its unobtrusive exterior (on the ground floor of an office building a few blocks from Capitol Hill), the elegant and contemporary interior design was warm and inviting. Reviewing the menu of options is always a challenge -- despite our growing familiary frequenting similar restaurants in DC with diplomats and lobbyists over the years -- as the menu descriptions are rife with advanced food preparation terms without any deciphering for the culinary layman (more on this later). With a robust gift certificate in hand, we chose the four course option -- start with a salad, share an appetizer, select an entree, and then have dessert accompanied by tea. Coupled with the intense flavor of each dish (we kept grappling for the right words -- regularly using terms such as rich, explosive, coordinated, and balanced) was the presentation. Each plate and/or bowl seemed designed for the dish, and each dish was worthy of hanging on the wall next to any art deco masterpiece (like tourists, we photographed each course before devouring it). On the suggestion of our waiter (who, seemingly as a natural part of the motif, spoke only French to his fellow wait staff) we selected the duck foie gras as or appetizer. While we had both heard of foie gras, ignorance is bliss, and in this case -- that's true. We probably would have been more reluctant to eat it if we had googled it before ordering it (do this at your own peril). Overall, the experience was delightful and one worth repeating -- but not too often. A great way to celebrate year one.
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