listening

the week before last, i was walking to work and decided to pull up an old This American Life episode. i've been doing this a lot in the past few months - especially in light of their 500th episode, i want to make sure i've listened to them all. i found two i hadn't had the heart to listen to - the two recorded after the events of 9.11. two weekends ago, i was at my parents lake house sitting by the fire and talking with my dad about 9.11 completely out of the blue. maybe we felt it looming, like it always does, around the last gasp of summer, during the weeks of back-to-school (my mother is a teacher - i live back-to-school vicariously through her every year.) or maybe it's just coincidence. either way, i find these two episodes of This American Life like a balm i didn't know i needed and/or wanted. so, on this, the twelfth anniversary, i urge you to listen to them. i found the second particularly prescient - it's like it could have been recorded yesterday or tomorrow, or a week from now, or three months ago. which i suppose makes me anxious?

193: Stories of Loss
*editors note: not the best to listen to on your way to work - gut-wrenching and heart-breaking

194: Before and After