September 11 and Baseball

At precisely 7:15am every weekday my boy crawls in bed with me to begin our daily ritual:  he reads me the box scores from all of the major league baseball games the night before (to include division standings and any injury reports) while I silently wish I had a barista on speed dial who delivered to my bedside.

Today was no different.  Except that it was.

Boy: "Mom, listen up.  This is important.  The Cubs beat the Reds but the Pirates won.  Mom, did you hear me?"

Me:  "Yes, boy.  I heard you.  Um, who's pitching tonight?"

By asking this, I foolishly think I can buy myself another 30-45 seconds of slumber.  Wrong.

Boy: "Today is September 11th right?  So tonight...."

I didn't hear what he said next.

Today is September 11th.  That date still makes me feel vomitous.  And I felt even more vomitous when I realized that I should probably remind him of the significance of today just in case someone mentions it at school.

Me: "Boy, do you know what today is?"

Boy: "No, why?"

I take a deep breath and tell him in the simplest words possible about today.  I tell him that there are some bad people in the world but that there are hundreds of thousands of good ones, too.  I tell him that his cousins have an uncle they never got to meet.  I tell him that the men and women in the military work hard to make sure that our country is safe.  And I tell him that today is a day to remember.

He suddenly puts down his tablet, looks at me exclaims, "Whoa.  Does dad know about all of this?!"

I can't help but smile and sort of chuckle.

Me: "Yes, dad knows."

Boy: "Ok, good.  Because as long as dad knows, we'll be safe."

If only it were that simple.

But for him, today, it is.  And since he's grown up with a dad that has deployed eight times, a mom that survived those eight times on too much caffeine and probably not enough patience, I'm glad it's that simple for him.  Selfishly, I'm glad he doesn't know too much about what happened 12 years ago today.

For now, he can spend his time memorizing ERA's and stolen base stats.  When he's older I will make certain he remembers.  And not just today, but every day.

Today?  I will remember enough for both of us.