Reflections can bring back beautiful memories…and they can bring to mind sad realities.

I took this picture of our grandson, oldest son, and youngest daughter during the second week of August in 2001. It is one of my favorite photos, even though it was taken with an old film camera and does not have the same sharp quality I can now achieve with my new digital camera.

I have always enjoyed watching my family as they walk ahead of me. They are not as aware of my being there, and I am able to watch the ones I love as they really are and as they really interact with one another when they do not realize someone is looking. My husband and my children laugh at me because of the number of pictures I have of their backs…but I cherish these special pictures, each and every one of them.

When this particular picture was taken, our son’s family was vacationing with us in Washington, D.C. As noted above, this picture was taken just one month before the tragic events of 9-11. The kids look so at ease, so comfortable, so normal. We walked and walked that whole day, from one end of the city to the other. The whole family had such a great time on that trip. Nowhere in the farthest reaches of our imaginations did we anticipate what would happen in but a few short weeks. It was a moment of innocence I will never forget and will always reflect upon as a very special time… a time in the life of our family, a time in the history of our nation I will always miss and wish we could recapture. Reflections.