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Current Events Other

Septemeber 11th Project 2996 Tribute- Nurul Huq Miah

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This is a tribute to Nurul Haq Miah, for Project 2996, in honor of the victims who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. 

Naurul Haq Miah was known as Miah to his friends, and co-workers.  Miah was born in Bengladesh on June 2, 1966.  He came to the United States in 1985 when he was 21. He married Shakila Yasmin (pictured above with Miah) on April 2, 2000.

Miah had worked for Marsh & McLennan for about 15 years as an audiovisual technician.  He was in Tower One, on the 99th floor, attending a meeting when the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11, crashed into the building.

What was even more heartbreaking for me to discover was Miah’s wife, Shakila, was at work on the 97th floor of Tower One, when the plane crashed, and she died too. They had only been married a year-and-a-half.  They were the only known couple who both died on September 11th.  In 2006, they were honored by the United States when the southeast corner of the 3rd Avenue and Ovington Avenue in New York was renamed after Shakila Yasmin and Nurul Haque Miah. 

When trying to decide how to honor Mr. Miah, facts and statistics only tell so much.  I obviously never met him, but I found heart-felt words from people who had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Miah and his wife. 

I discovered through their words that Miah always had a smile for his friends.  So many people spoke of his positive and upbeat attitude.  He was an avid outdoors man, who enjoyed camping, fishing, and hunting.  Many people spoke of the genuine and real love that existed between Nurul and Shakila.  One former colleague remembered Miah showing him the the executive floor in a corporate building owned by their company, where director Brian De Palma, filmed a scene with Sean Penn in the 1993 film Carlito’s Way.

Eight years is not a long period of time.  Yet, reading about the sense of loss that Mr. Miah’s friends and family have experienced, it is obvious that not a day passes where the loss of his life is not felt, and they have carried that loss every single day. 

Reading the words from people who loved him, it is clear to see that he touched so many lives and made so many people happy, just by being himself and living his life.  That is a gift, and the people whose lives Mr. Miah touched have never forgotten his gifts.

Mr. Miah gave Wendy Murray one of these gifts just one day before he died.  Ms. Murray’s account brought tears to my eyes, because I realized from her account, that we all have a Miah we know.  The person that cheers you up- the person who always says hi to you- the person who is always in a good mood- the person who goes out of their way to make your day brighter.  I think her words summarize what Mr. Miah meant to so many people- even to those of us who never met him:

“On September 10, 2001 I arrived to work with a frown on my face, frustrated by the hustle and bustle of the morning. Miah was walking doen the hall and asked me “where is my sunshine today” that is how he referred to my smile. I said “tough morning” and promised him a smile later on in the day. We talked a little bit about his weekend and went about our day. I don’t remember if I did give him a smile that day, but those words stay with me to this day. Miah was always able to make me smile, I just wish I had one that morning. I know your wonderful spirit is in a good place…”

I offer my sincere sympathy to Mr. Miah and Ms. Yasmin’s family and friends, and I am so sorry for your loss.  I believe, like Ms. Murray, that their spirits are in a good place.  

May all the innocent victims of September 11th, rest in peace.  To their families and friends, we will never forget. 

“Love is stronger than death even though it can’t stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can’t separate people from love. It can’t take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.” ~ Unknown

ShakilaYasmin

Nurul Haq Miah and Shakila Yasmin

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Current Events Other

Project 2,996- Remembering The Victims of 9/11

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I am very honored this year to participate in Project 2,996 to remember the victims of September 11th. 

I am writing a tribute to a person I never knew or never met, who lost his life eight years ago on that horrific day.  The goal of Project 2,996 is to have all 2,996 innocent victims honored and remembered for their lives.  From their blog:

9/11/09 will mark 8 years since the attacks of World Trade Center I and II, The Pentagon, Shanksville, American Airlines Flights 11 & 77, and United Airlines Flight 93 & 175.

On that day 2,996 people were ripped from their lives. But as the media and society tend to do, they have focused on the killers. We’ve all learned more about them than we wanted to. On that day many of us made a pledge to never forget what happened.

The bloggers… are trying to keep that promise by learning about the people who died that day.

 On Friday morning I will have my tribute to a man whose life ended just as it was begining.  I am devoting the time I have this week for blogging to writing his tribute. 

Project 2,996 has about a thousand bloggers signed up to honor a victim.  If you can help remember a victim you can sign up here. 

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Cole Family & Friends Mothering Parenting Ryan

Bullying

I live right next door to the pocket park for the neighborhood.   I can look out the kitchen window and see the playground equipment.  The kitchen window is right where I prepare meals, so many times Ryan is playing at the park while I am making dinner.  I can watch him right from the window.

This evening, as he was playing at the park (he was the only one there at the time), I noticed two older boys arrive at the park.  I try not to stereotype kids, but they immediately caught my attention.  First of all, they were a lot older than the usual neighborhood kids who play there.  Second, one of them was wearing really baggy pants, and his baseball cap was on backwards.  I haven’t seen one kid in the neighborhood dress like this before either.

I watched them as they interacted with Ryan.   I thought it odd they were even talking to a little kid like him.  They were smiling as Ryan was talking to them, but it was like a mocking smile.  Ryan ran up on the playground equipment and the older boy, Baggy Pants Boy, ran right up behind him.  He started to block Ryan’s way.  Ryan turned around, and went down the slide, and then the second boy stood in his way.  I went outside at this point to the backyard, and stood at the fence, where I could still see and hear everything that was being said. There is a tree there, so I wasn’t too obvious standing there.

Ryan said “Let me through,” and Baggy Pants Boy, said mimicking him, “Let me through.”  Then the other boy pushed Ryan on his back, while Ryan was climbing up a ladder.  Baggy Pants Boy got to the top of the ladder, purposely to block Ryan’s way.  Ryan said, “Let me get past you,” and he mimicked him again.  Ryan was trapped with Baggy Pants Boy in front of him, and the other boy behind him. 

I was so mad when I saw the second boy push Ryan.  I don’t want to fight my son’s battles for him, but this clearly was not a case of two similar aged children having a squabble on the playground.  I stepped out from behind the tree and told the boys to get off the ladder.  They looked surprised and stood there looking at me, but moved out of the way.  I told them I had been watching them, and it was not appropriate to treat kids the way they were treating Ryan.  Baggy Pants Boy got off the equipment, and started walking away.  I looked straight at the second boy, and told him he is not to push any child either, and to get away from Ryan.

He stood there glaring at me.  I glared back, with my newly found, hell-hath-no-fury-like-a mother-watching-her-son-being-picked-on-glare.  It seemed surreal I was staring down a young kid.  After a minute he turned away, and ran off to join his friend.

I had Ryan come home and I talked to him.  He said the boys had been mean to him, and one had been repeating everything he had said.  Then he told me another one pushed him.  Then he told me the most disturbing part that I had not heard- he said the boys had told them they had guns, and they were going to shoot him.

I had no reason to doubt Ryan- everything he had told me up to this point was what I had seen and heard happen myself.  I also know that Ryan doesn’t make up stories like this.  Then Cole started crying and said he was scared the boys were going hurt Ryan.  I calmed him down and told Ryan and Cole no one was going to hurt them.  I went outside, and saw the two boys riding their bikes way down at the end of the street. 

I thought about trying to go find their parents, but I wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do.  I went back inside, and we finished eating.  After dinner, my boys went to play in the backyard, and I went outside again.  I saw the two boys still riding their bikes, but they were just a few houses away.  I started to walk towards them. The boy I had the stare-down with was the closest.  When I was sure he would hear me, I called out to him, that I would like to talk to him.

He rode over to me, and I flat out asked him, if he had told my little boy he had a gun and he was going to shoot him.  He said no, and told me he was a good kid.  He said he had only told Ryan he had a toy gun.  I asked him why he had pushed Ryan, and he denied that.  I told him I had seen him push Ryan’s back.  He looked down at his shoes.  I asked him what his name was, and how old he was.  He told me his name, and then told me he was all of eight years old.  I asked him if the other boy (Baggy Pants) was his brother and he said no-they were friends.  He then told me his name, and told me he was ten. 

At this point Baggy Pants Boy rode over.  The boy I was talking to, C., told Baggy Pants what Ryan had said, and he looked very surprised and told me they never had told him they were going to shoot him.  I asked Baggy Pants why he was blocking Ryan, and mimicking him?  He denied that too.  I told him I had seen him do it, and he looked at me sheepishly.   

I told the two boys that they were a lot older than Ryan.  I told them Ryan was only in kindergarten.  I told them that even if they had been talking about toy guns, younger kids don’t always understand when someone is joking or not.  I told them not to talk about guns to Ryan, and I told them that if they ever saw Ryan again at the park and they could not play nice with him, then to stay away and leave him alone.  I told them that if I heard or saw them picking on Ryan or any other little kid, I would have to talk to their parents.  They told me okay, and they nodded.

In the back of my mind, I was thinking that they could possibly be being bullied themselves.  Before they rode off I told them my name, and if they ever needed anything, to let me know.  I thanked them for listening to me and told them to have a good night.  Then they rode off.

I was debating on whether I should tell their parents now, but I think I was very clear and firm with the boys.  I feel like I should make the “I’ll be watching you” sign in that movie, Meet the Parents, every time I see them from now on.  Hopefully by explaining to them what the boundaries are, they will not pick on Ryan or any other child again.

That was very hard to watch, and I just hope the point was taken.  I guess all I can do now is wait and see.

******Edited 9/24/07:  I have an updated post to this situation.**********

Categories
Cole Mothering Parenting

The Curse of Elmo

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When Ryan was being potty trained, my sister bought him the DVD, Elmo’s Potty Time.  It worked wonders- it was a dream come true.  After watching the DVD, in a few days he was fully potty trained.

The second time around with Cole, I figured it would be a breeze.  I already had trained one boy, how hard could potty training a second one be, especially when I had my secret weapon- Elmo, on my side?

Evidently, Elmo has a curse.  He will only work his magic on one child.  What is even worse, is he comes back to mock you.  Elmo’s curse started like this:

Right after my cancer surgery I decided to potty train Cole.  He had just turned 3, and we had been working with him off and on, but not on a regular basis.  Since I was recovering at home, I thought it was the perfect time, and we’d have it down in a week or two.

I did all the other steps too, and Cole was doing pretty well, but he still had accidents.  It was time to bring out the big gun- Elmo.  Cole, like Ryan, loved the DVD.  He was singing the songs, and one of his favorite songs is a song called Accidents Happen. The song’s theme is it’s okay to have accidents, and they happen while you are learning.  One of the lyrics say, “accidents happen, and that’s okay.”

One day right after watching Elmo, Ryan called to me, “Mom, Cole went pee on playroom table.”   I was in disbelief.  He had NEVER done that before.  He at least tried to make it to the potty before.  When I got to the playroom, Ryan was right, and I had a three-year old grinning at me ear-to-ear.  Our conversation:

ME: Cole, why did you pee on the table?

COLE: It was an accident.

ME: No, it wasn’t.  You didn’t even try to make it to the potty.  Remember Elmo- he tries to make it to the potty? 

COLE: Accidents happen and that’s okay!

The curse of Elmo.  Cole quotes that line now every time he has an “accident” that really isn’t one, and yes I know the difference.  No matter what angle I approach it with Cole, I get the answer which is the curse: accidents happen and that’s okay!

Two months later, Cole is still having “accidents.”  They are getting fewer and farther in between, and he stays dry for the entire night.  During the day, he doesn’t want to stop what he is doing to go potty, and he has an “accident.”  I am now making him stop every half hour, and that seems to be working better.  We don’t watch the DVD anymore.  Elmo’s curse is still alive and working here.  Hopefully it won’t haunt us for the rest of our days.

If anyone has a suggestion on how to break Elmo’s curse, I’d love to hear it.  🙂

Categories
Cole Cooking Health Mothering Ryan

Easy Tortilla Pizza & Caprese Salad

Taking a break from school and health updates, I am totally stealing my friend Amy’s (Crunchy Domestic Goddess), blog post, but adding another element to it. 

Amy wrote a blog post today about a very fast and quick lunch idea that another one of our friends, Melissa (Nature Deva), passed on to her.  It is tortilla pizza, and it is a brilliant recipe.  I have been wanting to make pizza for a few days now, but have not been motivated to make the crust from scratch like I normally do.  I hate the store bought dough- it doesn’t do pizza justice.  I saw Amy’s blog post today and decided to make it for dinner. 

This recipe calls for using tortillas for the crust.  The “crust” came out crispy and light, and you can use whatever kind of tortilla you want.  I love that I could make individual pizzas without a lot of extra work.  Cole loves pizza and will eat any topping.  Ryan doesn’t care for pizza, because he only likes pineapple as a topping and he does not like the tomato sauce.  I make a special section of pizza for Ryan, but he always found that one mushroom, or stray topping and wouldn’t want to eat his pizza.  This recipe solves that problem.  An added plus was the boys liked helping me make the pizzas and got a kick out of making their own.  Ryan wanted his pizza with very little tomato sauce, and topped with a little basil.  Cole wanted his pizza with normal sauce but no basil, and I made mine topped with fresh basil.

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I also made a caprese salad for me, and it made the perfect size meal.  We each ate only half of our pizzas, so we have lunch all ready for tomorrow!  Thanks Melissa for the recipe, and thanks Amy for blogging it first.  🙂

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To make the pizza, place one tortilla on a cookie sheet.  Prepare tomato sauce.  (I make my own sauce using tomato sauce, garlic, dried oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste).  Spread tomato sauce on the tortilla, and top with cheese.  As Amy recommends, if you want to add some toppings, they should be cooked first, and you really don’t want to load up these pizzas with toppings, since the “crust” is very thin, and the cooking time is so fast. 

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Place pizza under the broiler in the oven for about five minutes, but keep your eye on it, since it can cook very fast.  (I put our pizzas on the bottom rack for a few minutes to make sure the tomato sauce got hot, and then put the pizza on the top rack. )

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That’s it for the pizza.  To make the caprese salad, slice tomatoes (ones from your garden are best!) and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on them.  Add salt and pepper.  Then put a slice of the best mozzarella cheese you can afford on top of the tomato slices.  Add fresh basil to the top. I drizzle more olive oil on top, and then let it sit for at least 10 minutes to let the flavors absorb. 

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Enjoy these fast, healthy, and kid friendly recipes.  🙂    Amy has some other ideas and pictures for these pizzas, and you can read her post here.