9/11 - 5 years later

God Bless Redwork
Originally uploaded by lasassone.

I can't believe sometimes that it's been 5 years since this awful day in 2001. I spent yesterday remembering most of the day. However I was also gone from home most of the day. I spent the day with 2 friends helping a 3rd friend with a long-delayed project for which she was very grateful. She served us lunch and said so many "thank yous" that we finally told her to hush! It was a good day to spend with friends doing something physical and worthwhile.

Almost 5 years ago I signed up to honor two of the World Trade Center victims by making a quilt block for the 9/11 Memory Quilt that would travel the country. At the time I promised their families that I would never forget them. So you will find their pictures below and yesterday I wore their faces on a special shirt I made in 2002. Everyone who asked was told about Ray & Jane and how they were loving and much-loved.

When I chose Jane it was because she was born the same year as I was, was a breast cancer survivor and was from Canada originally, as was my late father. I "spoke" with one of her sons in Canada by email.

Ray's face literally popped out at me one night on the Memorial site. I later traded emails with his sister-in-law. From her and also from published stories I found out what a loving son, husband, father and friend he was. Today, when I see his face, I still think of a story I heard about him playing Barbies on the floor with his daughters.

Their profiles and a guestbook are always available at www.legacy.com.

The Redwork design above was adapted with permission from Mary Graham's quilt site. It's based on a design that she did for a quilt square. The design is still available for anyone who wants to stitch it at: http://www.nmia.com/~mgdesign/qor/memorialwall/memorywall/redworkgb.html