{"id":730,"date":"2010-09-11T01:49:15","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T08:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/?p=730"},"modified":"2010-09-11T07:09:31","modified_gmt":"2010-09-11T14:09:31","slug":"the-annual-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/the-annual-post\/","title":{"rendered":"The Annual Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

So here we are, nine years out from–for better or worse–the most exciting thing to have happened to me<\/a>, ever.<\/p>\n

And I wanted to talk a bit this year about the “exciting” thing.<\/p>\n

The word exciting has come to take on a positive meaning. The original meaning of “excite” was slightly different. Let’s check with our friend, the Oxford English Dictionary<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(ksat) \u00a0[a. Fr. exciter (= Pr. and Sp. excitar), ad. L. excitre, freq. of excire to set in motion, awaken, call forth, instigate, f. ex- out + cire to set in motion.]<\/p>\n

1. trans. To set in motion, stir up. \u00a0 \u00a0a. fig. To move, stir up, instigate, incite. Const. til, to, unto; to with inf. or that (with subord. clause); also simply. Now only with mixed notion of 5, see below<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

a<\/em>1340<\/strong> HAMPOLE<\/small><\/span><\/a> Psalter<\/em> Prol., \u00a0\"{Th}\"e \u00a0sange of psalmes..excites aungels til oure help. \u00a0<\/a>Ibid.<\/em> ix. 25 \u00a0Antecrist sall..excite him [God] in his synn to punysch him. \u00a0<\/a>1398<\/strong> TREVISA<\/small><\/span><\/a> Barth. De P.R.<\/em> V<\/small>. \u00a0xxiii. (1495) 131 \u00a0Oxen ben excited to traueile more by the swete songe of the heerd than by strokes and pryckes…<\/p>\n

b. To provoke, challenge. Obs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

c. In physical sense: To set in motion, stir up (so L. excitare harenam, Sallust.) Obs. rare1.<\/p>\n

2. To rouse, awaken<\/strong>. \u00a0 \u00a0a. lit. To rouse from unconsciousness. rare.<\/p>\n

b. To call up (a departed spirit). Obs. rare.<\/p>\n

c. To call forth or quicken (a faculty, feeling, etc.) from potential into actual existence; to rouse up, awaken (what is dormant, sluggish, or latent).<\/p>\n

3. To induce, elicit, provoke (actions, manifestations); to bring about, occasion (active conditions).<\/p>\n

4. To affect by a stimulus (bodily organs or tissues), so as to produce or intensify their characteristic activity.<\/p>\n

5. In modern use: To move to strong emotion, stir to passion; to stir up to eager tumultuous feeling, whether pleasurable or painful. Also intr. and absol.<\/p>\n

6. a. Electricity and Magnetism. To induce electric or magnetic activity in (a substance); to set (an electric current) in motion; also absol. \u00a0 \u00a0b. Photography. To render (a plate, etc.) sensitive to light; to sensitize.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I bolded the ones I’m talking about (and of course, I left out most of the cool OED dates and quotations and things. Love that stuff though. Old habits die hard).<\/p>\n

So, I’ve been feeling awfully awkward about thinking of 9\/11 as an “exciting<\/em> moment” in my life. It was a horrible day. Of course, for our school, the next 6 months were worse, but for so many—many too many—families 9\/11 was life-changing in the most obscene ways.<\/p>\n

However, those of us who came out alive, we experienced the largest—and probably longest continuous—adrenaline surge we’ll ever have. Even the memory of a drug-free childbirth (also looong) has been mollified by endorphins, convincing me that it wasn’t so bad and that we should, perhaps, do it all over again in a couple of years. (Um. No. We’re not going to. I’m just saying).<\/p>\n

We didn’t get endorphins with 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Unless I’m misremembering my anatomy\/physiology class, I believe one of the results of adrenaline is that you experience things in a heightened state. This is why being in a car accident we all say, “and then everything went in slow motion…” Just like a movie camera, our minds speed up so we can process things quickly—and save our lives. When a camera speeds up, it uses more frames per second to capture a given image. That means if you play it back at a normal speed, everything will slow down.<\/p>\n

So my memories, even nine years later, are still shockingly distinct. One picture, one airplane overhead, one blog post, and I’m absolutely back there. I think that’s the adrenaline too.<\/p>\n

Yet I still hesitate to call it exciting—even though it was, living on the edge like that. I imagine battle is similar, though I know 9\/11 pales by comparison if only in it’s relative brevity. But there’s something about not knowing what will happen next in a life-or-death situation that focuses your mind so amazingly.<\/p>\n

Yet there’s no comparison to other more appropriately “exciting things”:<\/p>\n