( 8:19 AM ) teahouse
 The End of the Innocence
Today is the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks.
It's also my 30-something-th birthday.
In many ways, it's hard to believe it's been nearly a decade since that day.
But in many other ways, it seems like my life has been divided into before that day, and after that day.
When everything happened, I had just moved to New York, I was a bright-eyed and fresh faced law firm junior associate, I shared a hip Murray Hill apartment with two other young ladies.
My life was completely focused on doing well at work, going out with friends, the occasional date, and generally enjoying the frivolities of adulthood in a big city.
My roommates were just as innocent as I was. We were like the Sex and the City girls - we thought of cosmopolitans, new clothes and not much else.
After the events of September 11, we all realized how unsafe we really were, and how quickly the world could change.
We became more wary, more scared. More anxious. More like adults who worry about everything and fret when their children leave the house.
One of my roommates had worked in the World Trade Center, escaped the building on that day and lost many coworkers. She completely fell apart. She had what started off slowly, but eventually snowballed into a nervous breakdown. She left New York.
Now, eight years later, I'm a little more experienced and a little more senior in a law firm. I live with my husband. We both complain that we don't move around as quickly as we once did.
We go to bed earlier. We make sure our doors are locked at night. We have an emergency meet-up plan, in case of another terror attack. We keep a stash of cash in the house, in case there's an emergency and ATMs are inaccessible.
I've gotten used to watching memorial services and getting teared up on my birthday.
I'm not complaining. I never forget how lucky I am, that nobody close to me was killed that day. And my heart will always break for the people who lost loved ones.
But having a notorious tragedy occur on my birthday has reminded me every year of how precious my life is, and everyone's life.
Every anniversary of this day I celebrate with birthday cake and loved ones is a little triumph over the people who tried to kill me and the other inhabitants of New York City.
Hope your day is positive, precious and surrounded by love!
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