We finished watching America’s Best Dance Crew and I figured it was time for bed. I hadn’t felt well all weekend but I pushed through it, fertilizing the front yard and mowing both back and front. Heap on top of that laundry, Elliot being a total pain in the ass, and Isaac teething. As  I slipped into bed and nearly passed out within the first couple minutes, Ash flipped through the channels and we saw THE news… the death of Bin Laden. I’m not one to freak out about “patriotic” sort of things so I took it in stride. It wasn’t until this morning when I actually felt sort of happy. In fact, listening to CNN on the radio, I started to tear up when they interviewed people who had gathered in Time’s Square. I imagine this means a lot to military, people who lost family in 9/11 and other people who are far more patriotic than myself. And that alone made me weep. I should care a lot more about this.  Sometimes I think it’s because 2/3 of my life was lived in a pre-9/11 world and I didn’t pay much attention to my rights and freedoms. I was naive.

But I think it’s a very good thing; though I do worry that things are not going to change right away. It’s not like there aren’t still insurgents out there. But killing the iconic leader probably takes a little bit of the wind out of their sails.

I do hope it means better things for our country.  I admit that for a while there, I actually felt real true dread. As in, I didn’t feel like our world was as financially safe. When you’re younger, you always think things are going to be OK. And even for a while when we first got married and had real things to worry about like a mortgage and then even when Elliot was small, I felt secure. But as the American economy began to tank and gas prices rose and  local governments began talks of cutting more, making people pay more, I was honest-to-God scared that no, it would not be alright. Let’s hope this event will bring about some kind of change for the better. I am sick of worrying about it.