bittersweet beauty

It's hard not to look at a clear blue September sky and not think of a similar beautiful clear day, eleven years ago.  As much as I love the beauty of the horizon...today, that beauty is bittersweet.

One of my post popular posts was about my trip to New York last fall, which included a visit to the 9/11 Memorial site.  To honour those who lost their lives eleven years ago, here's that post again today.

a hole in the heart

(originally published October 5, 2011)

After a whirlwind weekend of indulgent window shopping, seeing the bright and dazzling Times Square, admiring the million dollar architecture and enjoying the scrumptious culinary delights in NYC a few weeks ago…we felt we needed to end our weekend trip by visiting a special place to bring us back to reality and reflect how fortunate we really all are.

{Above photo, courtesy of CNN}

You see, ten years ago, we had planned to be right here in New York.  Before going to a London/Paris excursion on Sept. 12^th, we were planning on stopping by as a post birthday celebration, before heading to London.  But circumstances led to us to stay home instead. Now, not a September goes by when I don’t think about what could have been. It’s amazing how many stories you hear, of someone missing their flight, and someone else taking their place.  How one person was saved because of someone else’s sacrifice. 

Ten years later, looking at the void where the towers were, the enormity of it, the place where monumental heartache took place…I realized that for every hole that is created, somewhere else, another hole is filled.

And even though life seems unfair on the surface, we are guided to fulfill a destiny, a purpose.  And for some reason, all our lives are intertwined in some form or another, with meaningful adjacencies.  (to read a beautiful article about how meaningful adjacencies relate to this memorial, please read Paula Grant Berry's CNN article)

I hope I fulfill my purpose in life…to help create a simple world of love, kindness, and appreciation for our beautiful world.  And especially, during this upcoming Thanksgiving season...to remember to be grateful, and thankful for all we have.

To simply…fill the holes.

Heart Shaped Jam Filled cookies 

(makes approx. 30-40 cookies)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar plus 4 tbsp extra for dusting.
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation

• Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl.
• Add the egg and vanilla.  
• Add the vanilla and 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• Slowly mix the flour into the mixture until dough consistency.
• Refrigerate for approximately 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350degrees
• Roll out the dough into desired shapes, creating enough for a solid bottom and one with a cut-out on the top.
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
• Top one solid cookie with your favourite jam, and sandwich with a cookie with a cut out.
• Dust the cookies with powdered sugar.

Enjoy...with all your heart.