I believe I am representative in saying thanks to Susan Burger for her post
today, on life in Manhattan.  We are all thinking of you Lactnetters on
Manhattan and it is truly wonderful to hear from you.
I just got home from observing three minutes of silence in my town square.
We circulated an e-mail to the American women's network here - it is a small
town and there are about 50 of us who sporadically get together - inviting
anyone to meet there just before noon, when the country was going to get
quiet.

About a dozen women from our group showed up.  Most of them, with their
small children, several of whom I saw into this world, and many of whom I
have helped with minor or major problems breastfeeding.  I don't think the
children knew why we all had to hold them so tight, and why we were weeping.
I trust their mothers to give them some understandable explanation.

One woman unfurled an American flag from her purse as the clock struck 12,
and WRAPPED herself in it, and stood immobile for three minutes.  I have
never before felt that the stars and stripes was my icon, and I don't know
that I feel it now, but the sincerity of her action moved me just the same.
Another friend who knows personally at least 20 of the missing rescue
workers, was overcome and we simply held her.  I 'caught' her third
daughter, the only one born here.  And I was fortunate enough to conclude
this strange occasion by going into the town church, which is open 24/7 this
week, and sit beside another friend while her 14 month old son, another one
of 'my' babies, had a nice two-course meal in the half-darkness, his gurgles
the only sound in that large space, clearer and more direct than any verbal
prayer.

This really is what drives me, the belief that cementing the bonds between
mothers and babies MATTERS.  That when you grow up nourished in this way,
you aren't just more resistant to infectious diseases, but to societal
diseases stemming from alienation from others.
listmother Rachel in Norway
not as far away as you think

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