9/11 Happy Birthday?

Today is my daughter's birthday. Six years ago, after what would have to be termed a bare minimum of labour, I gave birth to a little girl who is the sweetest, friendliest, most light-filled of my children.

Five years ago, I was poking around online when the first unbelievable bulletins came over the Internet. I scooped her up and ran over to the school where my husband and the rest of the kids were. He was gathering the older kids and the teachers into the auditorium to say Tehillim. I remember turning to the English translation siddurim for the secular teachers, none of whom are Jewish. The nursery teacher was having hysterics, so I went to the classroom to sit with the kids. I told them there was a big fire in New York, that a plane had crashed into a building. My husband and son went outside to raise the flag.

How am I supposed to feel today? There is a special website for people like my daughter, birthdayspirit.org. Their motto is "Celebrating the goodness born on a tragic day." I guess that's us.