Monday, September 11, 2006


I know I've been quiet today but September 11 is never a good day for me. A bunch of friends on ClubMom have been taking part in this Legacy.com tribute, where you select someone who was lost that day and memorialize them. As usual, my powers of technology were not with me and I think my tribute is somewhere in the ether so let me just blog it directly.

Christine Lee Hanson was 2 1/2 on September 11, 2001. About the same age as Will. She was going on vacation with her mommy and daddy, and was probably really excited to fly in a big plane, like Will and Alex get.

You know, once you become a parent, you don't deal very well with bad news stories involving children. So you're going to have to bear with me here. Because every child becomes your child when something goes wrong.

So little Christine was probably very excited. Her parents were probably smiling and laughing with her, pointing out the big engines or giving her gum to chew so her little ears didn't pop when the plane took off. But little Christine and all the potential ahead of her ended at the World Trade Center that morning.

Christine's not going to have the same opportunities Will has. She's never going to be excited over seeing her first movie in a big movie theatre. She never got to start Kindergarten and make new friends. She won't get to pick out Hello Kitty or Barbie school supplies. Christine's mom will never drop her off on her first day of school and cry when she gets home because her baby is growing up.

Poor Christine didn't have enough of a life to warrant her own obituary; she was part of her father's and her mother's. But she'll never be forgotten.

Every time Will reaches a milestone, be it a science project or be it mastering a two-wheel bike, my mind will wander to Christine. Because like the saying goes, there but for the grace of God, went Will and I.

There is no justification for this act.

5 comments:

Stacey said...

So sad.

Roe said...

I was pretty much done after I wrote that.

Chaos Mommy said...

Oh, Roe! That's so sad. I never hear about any kids that died that day. I always assume that with 4 airplanes, there must have been some. Or someone visiting mom or dad at work in the big skyscraper. Somewhere in this story there must have been children. Thanks for posting this, and you're right, there is no justification for her life being taken so early.

Linda said...

That's the first time I heard about a child victim myself, thank you for your words. I'm sure she has her wings. I wonder how many small children were lost that day.

Roe said...

I know there was a class trip on one of the California-bound planes and there was a little boy who was traveling with his two daddies. They never publicize the kids for reasons that I can understand - that's a tough one to take - but at the same time, these kids were barely developing their own voices, someone had to speak for them. Christine was the youngest victim of 9/11, if you don't count the pregnant women that died that day.