If you are reading this journal….still….after all this time…I feel I must apologize for this entry. It is really a cut and paste of all the email and posts from Sept 11th on, so that I can have a record of them. I don't know that they will be that interesting to YOU.

I am fine…thanks to those of you who emailed asking if I was still here since I haven't been posting. The truth is, I am just busy…and tired. My internet time is spent updating the elementary school's site, my class's website, the family's website, and the cheerleader's website. So, I don't get much journal posting time - it is the least demanding and gets left out.

I am having a great year at school, a difficult mommy fall, and a mind-bending grad class. Too much work for it and I am behind. This week I will be part of a presentation at KSRA reading conference, so that just backs up the rest of my schedule and adds stress (I don't stand up in front of people over 4 feet high very well…)

So the rest is just my running record, edited for names and sometimes explained, often not. If you have a burning desire to know, email me and I will make myself clearer!

Email from Florida as I sat waiting for news on Sept. 11, 2001:

Lyra, my sister e-mailed me several times this a.m. I am very concerned and hope Logan is okay. I mentioned to Judy that if there is anything I can do through my sister to please let me know. Her building in Balt. is being evacuated now and I told her to call me when she gets home. Do you have a no. fo rLogan and maybe I can have her try to call him when she gets home? She will call me if she can get through. I'll keep hoping and praying that Logan is safe and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you locate him.

10 minutes later:

I just spoke to Logan, he is OK!!!! Don't ask how I got through but I did. He is out of the city and is east of the city and trying to get back home. He said everyone everywhere is on cell phones. He will try to call you (Lyra) once he gets back home. But he is fine and is on his way home. I am now relieved. The connection was bad so I only talked for a few minutes but let me know if I can do anything else. LES

Sept 12 email to pen pal teacher:

Thanks for thinking of us! We are north of Pgh, and were never in any danger. Though didn't all of us wonder if we were in danger or not...

The REAL concern was/IS that my son was on his second day of his new job 2 blocks from the capitol. He made it out of the city, but it was a real effort. He had left his car at a train station, and of course the trains weren't running. He had to bum rides, first east of the city, then north of the city, and then west where his car was. It took 6 hours to do this.

AND no word from him in all this time...

The interesting part of the story is that I came home from school (several teachers offered to cover for me, bless them!) to check email hoping he had gotten word out that way as the phones were all tied up. Nothing from him, but a friend through racing had FWDed an email from a former racer that had somehow heard that Logan had moved to DC. He sent asking J about Logan, and she thought I would be touched by that and sent it on. Well, in the email, he mentions calling his sister in DC.

HE got a call through!!

I never even finished reading the email. Forget "touching"! I copy/pasted his address into the subject line and sent one line, "Try calling Logan's cell phone at this number. Never even said how I got his email address or why I was demanding such a thing.

Are you ready?

In TEN MINUTES I got an email back, "Talked to Logan, he is fine, he is out of the city on the eastern side trying to get back around to his car."

Can you imagine? He called from FLORIDA! He got in. I wasn't able to for 2 more hours. But at least I knew he was not near the capitol anymore. I DID wonder if I believed it was Logan that Les talked to - he said he had a bad connection, but heck, you will hold on to anything until you hear your baby's voice!

I hadn't talked to Les in YEARS...since Logan was a young boy selling newspapers in the stands at the race track, and Les was a young man Logan's age now, doing another job there. Needless to say, I have emailed him more in the last few days than I talked to him when we all worked together!

That is the fear, now. The Next Time....

And your family? I trust everyone was home and accounted for. In this day and age, we can be anywhere...we are waiting word in our town from someone who had business at the Trade Center on that day...

Thanks for thinking of me, S. That means a lot!

Sept 11 - email to coworker

It makes me mad that no one did let us know that we were under terrorist attack in our country. that shocks me, that we could go on oblivious in the classroom like that. especially since some of us - maybe all of us - have relatives who could be involved.

but don't worry about upsetting me - i was going to be "upset" no matter how i found out. in a way, your question was a gentler way to start then have some one come to my door and tell me all the details first.because you asking where he was made me know ahead of time when i heard about the pentagon that he wasn't THERE. my concern was that it didn't seem to be over and he WAS near the capitol. that and my cellphone rang earlier in the morning and no one EVER calls me on it during the day. (it was Jackson trying to get me w/o going through office - he wanted numbers if i had them and to tell me of course) but actually, Jackson should have let the office come get me instead of telling me with a room full of kids looking at me. i will have to tell him that...

anyway, i am still nervous about what could be Day Two...we don't know.

We will see Logan, God willing, this weekend at the Pittsburgher...

Sept 12 post on COF

I did the same - kept checking the TV in case there was some new developments...running through who I might not have accounted for...dreading hearing from those who found out someone was there...

So far, all my friends and their families and all of my family are accounted for...

But I sure wish son wasn't going to work today...

I can't check in from work, but will at the end of the day. Off to face the kiddos, hope we are briefed on how to handle that.

Email from my brother:

Subject: Uncle Chard and Logan's non-existent disaster plan!

Hello Everyone,

I'm sure you all know by now that everyone here (Logan, Wife And The Kids) are fine. I finely got to talk to J and Logan late afternoon yesterday. Long distance service was virtually non-exsistant in the metro area until late yesterday. Even the internet was unreliable for me and I still don't have a cell phone! So I am finally reporting in 24 hours later! :)

After everything settled down last night and I returned to work today it is very evident that Logan and Uncle Chard need a disaster plan!

I didn't see all the e-mail buzz (from Lyra and the other brother) until 6:00 a.m. this morning. I was constantly checking my personal e-mail all day yesterday for word from J and Lyra. Of course everybody was e-mailing my work address! That's the problem with having email, now its one more thing we all have to manage.

I remember telling everybody to send any e-mail to my work address because I "check it all the time". Well that would be "all the time except for in an emergency"! :)

When I returned to my office from the street yesterday all of us had messages to call home. Of course all of us who had to call long distance just kept trying, and trying, and trying but couldn't through. Meanwhile the wives of fellow specialist kept calling to see if their husbands were back yet (the D.C. guys got back last). Anyway the phone rings and I'm handed the phone. I'm thinking it's J when the voice on the other end says "I'm worried about Logan".

It was Patti, Logan's landlord. Lyra, he's in good hands!

I can't get in touch with anybody or anything and Logan's got the posse out after him! :) He's back at home drinking a Ginger Ale and watching Gilligans Island re-runs meanwhile I still can't tell if a plane has blown up Camp David or Catoctin Lane! We are all moving in with Patti! :)

Anyway I decided to implement the following disaster plan (Logan, take this down):

1. Everyone use this e-mail address to contact me - xxx/

2. Logan will call me at (work).

3. I will call Logan at xxx (Logan check this number, I tried this morning and did not get through. E-mail me the correct one).

4. We will both email everybody (if we can) with what info we know!

5. Chard and family go to Patti's house for popcorn and a movie!

That's it! We're glad everyone's o.k.! God Bless America!

Uncle Chard

And the reply from Logan:

Ten-four, roger on the disaster plan, now all we need to do is print out copies of the plan, put them in a binder, and distribute them to all parties involved.

As for the number - by "didn't get through," I hope you mean that I just didn't answer. If so, I can explain. I am currently sitting at the desk of someone who is on vacation (ext. 31 Mom, I checked). This is only until my system is up and running completely, and 311 will be my number by sometime next week. I will also give you my cell phone number and work e-mail, just to further complicate the issue, and to insure that we will most definitely forget the plan in case of a real emergency.

Cell #xxx

Work e-mail: xxx

Much calmer day here near the capitol building today…although I was late to work today. I left work early on my second day and arrived late on my third day - I wonder what my boss thinks of me? Anyway, the MARC was operating today and I planned to take it as usual, only to find out that it was operating on a Holiday schedule (trains going half as often) and that all trains were operating with a 35 mph speed limit (don't ask why that would be). So I tried to call work, no answer. Then I drove to the metro station at Shady Grove, parked in a temporary lot on the other side of the county, and zig-zagged my way, following poorly labeled and confusing "don't come this way - go around yonder" signs directing me around the construction site for the new parking lot (the new lot will be very convenient, I assure you. It was directly between the metro station and me), got on the metro and arrived at work promptly at 7:45 (I start at 7:30).

I explained the situation to my boss and she understood, saying that she was late today herself...

Then I sat at my computer and wrote an extremely long e-mail to my family during work hours. Maybe I should go now... Logan

Sept 12 - Email response to "Uncle Chard's Nonexistent Disaster Plan" Glad to hear from everyone. Logan did call us last night and tell us he had heard from you, Chard . I did keep calling around asking people if they knew your cellphone number, but I couldn't get a soul anyway, so it didn't matter that you didn't have one.

I have an amendment to the disaster plan. Both of you must call or email Les FIRST at XXX or call him at xxx !!!!!!!!!!

SF Brother, I thought of you all earlier in the day when they were saying that the flight was originally headed to SF. First, I thought, well they are safe now. Then I heard the west was still worried because it would take flights awhile to get there, so they were uncertain if SF & LA were still targeted or not. When they grounded flights, I again, figured your threat was over, but I guess I didn't think about a disaster plan being implemented and putting the city under a strain. I also didn't get as far as to think that you lived in NYC and therefore would still have relationships there. What reports are you getting from your friends? And SIL was able to account for her family's whereabouts, too? I did wonder if you or Dad or Mom were in the air, I can never keep their itineraries straight, and yours is a complete unknown. I really felt how spread out we are when all of Jackson's family is here waiting for a phone call, and I don't have a clue where any of mine is...except for Jackson who came home early too, and Lydia at school under lock down. I wish there was a little button such as on a tape measure, where you push the button and everyone is instantly sucked back into the fold. Like Narnia, one minute you are faced with gridlock and zap, you are home not an instant after you left in the first place. Sigh.

Well, Chard the email was a welcome relief as well as a comic one, and Logan, one comedian in the family is enough...you don't have to encourage him! ;) Love you all...

Sept 15 - COF post

All my pacing in the scoring tower at the race track last night paid off when the little red topaz carrying my son pulled into the track in the middle of the feature race. He came up and waited patiently for a break in the action so I could get my long awaited hug before he headed down to the flag stand to join his father. He had some difficulties getting there as he was stopped for various other mommy hugs from people who saw my post on the racing board when I was still searching for him on Tuesday. Seeing the reception he got was warm and touching, but at the same time gave me a lump in my throat (and tears in my eyes even as I write) for the thousands who will never get those welcome home hugs, and the people who need so desperately to give them...

Email 9/22 to manatee

I have mixed emotions about the current policies, and mostly agree with your views. I am hoping that what our president meant (I did watch, all the way through the united speech of minority and majority congressional leaders.) when he said some operations would be in the news and some would not, he meant that we are blowing ourselves up to look big like a blow fish, and that the real operations will be small and targeted against terrorist groups. I felt like our leadership was saying last night that we can't just cluck and shake our heads any more as we have for the waves of terrorism in recent years, that we need to organize an effort and fight it as we would any other act of war. I know Bush said it will be long, but I think that is because we are NOT going in to just blow up innocent people. I haven't watched tonight as I have been gone and now it is late, but the warnings have been issued and people are having a chance to flee danger zones last I heard, which is certainly different than NYC, so I am hoping it means the line of fire will be clear of the innocent.

So hard to think about...the draft....the dangers in the capital...the loss of even one more life. But it is also hard to think that these scared 2nd graders who are now sleeping in their downstairs might grow up under the constant threat of terrorism. How to stop it?

Well, can't go on, eyes are trying to shut.

Oh, yes, Logan plans to rent a u-haul I think- to move that stuff down. He is home a weekend in October - let you know later.

10/1 Email to son:

Are you feeling nervous about the lack of organization on the part of management at the seasons? Maybe they are all like that, I don't know, but I am hoping they are not as bad at taking care of you/your apt once you are there as they are about taking care of you before you even get there. I am wishing you didn't already have the change of address hassle going on and the closeness of the move date bearing down on you, cuz I would love to tell That Place to shove it, and get you in over at The Elms, even if I had to pay for the utilities myself! But in saying that, I realize that starting the whole process with The Elms could be as long and drawn out and for all we know as mismanaged as That Place.

Do you feel comfortable driving around New City? I know you mentioned that people questioned where in New City you were located. Did you get that feeling of being in a dangerous section of town while you were driving around, either in the surrounding area, or in your apt complex itself?

Bottom line is I want it to be where YOU want to spend the next year (since you are signing a lease). If you are having serious second thoughts, don't be afraid to step back and punt. Don't feel like you have to push through with it, if it is beginning to feel like you don't want to be there.

If you can't decide whether you are a) letting time and distance make your decision hasty or b) if your hesitance and lack of faith in them is founded or not, ask Chard to come walk through the decision with you. If he says, you'll be fine here once you are in, OR get the hell out of this deal, then you will feel better about it either way.

Maybe you are not feeling any of these things. Maybe you are just grumbling in general like someone who sat in traffic too long today, and you are thinking where did this whacked out email come from?

Oh, you say, it's just Mom...no wonder.... :)

I just try to read between the lines in case you hid anything in there. If I am just digging up dust bunnies with no substance then roll your eyes and go back to work. But, if you were really thinking, "Geez coach, I'd really rather just punt" then do it!

Wish I could've talked to you. Sometimes I am better at between the lines of voices than of email....and sometimes I am just as bad at it either way!

But I AM still your mom...
Love ya,
M.O.M
Email to past student teacher:

I have a sweetheart student teacher this year! B B has been working her butt off and working in another small town on her way home. She works for an after school daycare and on the weekends does home sitting with the elderly. Wow! She was sick the day last week that her supervisor was coming in. Threw up on the way here, had diarrhea, and a racing/hurting heart. After letting herself in at her fiance's house, she called me and said she would try to get there later. I said STAY HOME! She showed up at lunch time and Supervisor took one look at her and said, "Go back home! I will see you on a day you are healthy!" (she DID look terrible.) I told her it was stress, but she insisted it couldn't be. She slept all day (when she finally got home) and night and the next day was amazed how back to normal she was. I am still positive it was stress! Poor Kylie is having K withdrawal, just like I did when SHE got you after me. (Serves her right, ha, ha.) Her new one is very nice, but she is more stand-offish and Kylie hasn't bonded with her the way she did with you.

I can't believe you are next door to my baby birdies! What a surprise that must have been to look out your window - over your belly full of twins - and see MY TWINS gallivanting around the back yard next door! Who knew when Birdie and her hubby joined us for your going away dinner that you would some day be neighbors…or would some day be having twins of your own. I remember being worried that night with all the cute pictures flying around and you feeling like you were NEVER having babies that the whole night might be depressing you. But, have we said lately, "God had a plan for you last spring????????"

You must go over there (Hubby can wheel you over in a wheelbarrow hee,hee) and hug them for me.

I have class in your town on Tuesday nights. I have been too exhausted to stop in ANYWHERE, and it is really too late when I get out to go visit someone with babies…either in a belly, or in a crib! But, when class is over, I will have to make a trip down.

When is your due date? Do you want Kylie and I to come coach? ;) We'll "teach you" how to have those babies in no time! Don't laugh, I showed up in time to hear Birdie's being born, and got to take pictures of her with them before they were even cleaned up. So, better not tell your hubby to call ME when you go into labor! ;) Yeah, yeah, Birdie already warned you, I am sure.

I am so excited! Love the names by the way.
Love ya, "mommy",
Lyra
or should that be:
Love ya,
Mommy Lyra
HA!

Second email 10/6:

Logan seems to be doing okay. He is still living at P's house in Frederick (divorcee with 13 yr old son and an extra bedroom. Logan is her experiment with renting out that room.) But next weekend he moves into apt closer to town so he doesn't have to take a 2 hour train trip every day. His childhood friend, R, is moving down too, to look for work and help pay the bills on the apt.

He has very little time to himself. About 2 hours an evening and then it is bed time because of his early start. He got a cell phone plan that gives him free nights and weekends and 300 min of day time calls a month for the whole eastern region, so he can call home when he wants to...being in the city, it is as clear and easy as a phone line.

He did take off for a race last weekend at one of his mom and dad's old stomping grounds. (First overnight race event I ever went to with Jackson...I was 17 and had to take my SF brother along for the hotel :) We went to that event annually all the way through Logan's early years. Logan's first trip there was when he was a nursing baby. Took Nanny Manatee with us to sit with him between feedings so he didn't have to go in to the track at 4 months old!

Anyway, working with mostly older people, he didn't have anyone to go with him. I like that he didn't just stay home and pine away, but it's too bad he isn't meeting people. I am sure that knowing R is joining him next weekend has kept that from feeling like an insurmountable problem. And they will be in a pretty large complex where there are some younger people. Plus he won't be facing quite the train ride he was looking at for the last 5 weeks. I guess he needed the nose to the grindstone time to get acclimated, but I am sure he is glad that is going to change. Things are settling down a bit since the 9-11 scare with him in DC. Even still, I am often gripped by the fear of biological warfare. If I thought he would wear it, I would get him a hazmat suit and gas mask for the train.

I am dead serious.

I was talking to BB's teacher-supervisor (M) the other night about it; she has 2 girls in NYC. She voiced my fears. She said you spend your whole parenthood raising independent thinkers, push them out of the nest and feel the pride of watching them soar over the city and then in the space of an hour, you take it all back and for the first time in your life you are thinking, "trailer in the back yard". She couldn't have hit it more dead on. She said she pores over the papers trying to find what she can do to protect her daughters from biological warfare. Wants to go to her Dr. and get antibiotics to send to them to keep for emergency use. She is a professional woman I have always respected for her independence and personal goals. To hear her talk like that made me feel like I am not crazy.

But this is depressing talk! You should be thinking of poopy diapers and night time feedings! Ha, ha.

October school letter:

Dear Folks,

It is almost time for our first grading period to be over and we are in full swing in Room 13! I wanted to take the time to let you know of a few upcoming events, and to answer a few questions. I also have some requests before I am all done writing!

We have gotten letters from our pen pals, and they have sent their classroom mascot, Sammy the Sage, to learn about us. Sammy will be coming home with your child and his overnight bag one day soon. Please take time to write in his journal and take a picture of him participating in something with you while he is at your house. If you are doing something special in our area that you could include Sammy, we would make arrangements for him to go with you on a little field trip!

Next Friday, October 19th, is Miss B's last day. I am planning to fill a goodie bag for her with teacher supplies. If you would like to add to this bag, please have your child sneak in something and give it to me so I can include it in her bag. These items can be things like paper clips, special pens and pencils, markers, notepads, teacher magnets etc.

Monday, the 22nd through Wednesday the 24th, I will be at a reading conference, and there will be a substitute teacher in our room.

Many, many people have said they would like to help in our classroom. I have been lying awake nights thinking up projects for you! The following are things that we are working on, or events that are coming up that you might like to be involved in:

Our Halloween party will be on Wednesday, October 31st. If you would like to organize a game or be in the classroom to help serve food, let me know.

Jennie R has been working on sorting and leveling books. This job grows and grows! If you would like to help her on a Friday afternoon, I am sure she could put you to work.

Our classroom web page is up. I am trying to maintain my own family page, the cheerleader's page, and this classroom page. If anyone is interested in taking over OR helping OR learning how to help with our class's page, I would be glad to have you!

Do you have a camcorder? We would like to send a videotape of our classroom and our area and send it to our pen pals. You could record in town on your own time and/or come in to tape the kids telling something about themselves to their new friends.

We also have a postcard project going. If you have a Pennsylvania post card or would be willing to write on one I have, and address it to one of the classrooms in 31 participating states, I will send you more information.

When Miss B leaves, we have 3 different daily activities that could use an extra adult in the classroom. Let me know if you are interested in assisting our kids in the computer lab on Tuesday afternoons, or helping kids with their ideas during morning writing workshops on Wednesdays or Thursdays, or helping kids to select appropriate books to read (or being a reading buddy) for Self-selected reading on Monday or Friday afternoons.

Many of you are experts in other fields. If you have something you like to share with children, I am sure it would enrich our classroom. Please let us know about it!

I told you I have been busy thinking up ways for you to join us in the classroom. I am sure there will be others over the winter; so if you haven't seen one that appeals to you, watch for an update.

Speaking of updates, I do try to update events and homework on the web page under "Sticky Notes" but this is new for me, so I am not making any promises about how reliable and timely a source it will be.

Thanks for all the offers, and thanks for your wonderful children. This is truly a great class and I am looking forward to this year with them.

Happy Autumn,

Miss Lyra