Two days later the world was a different place. I thought to myself, there will be no innocent crowd scenes again. No more National Book Festivals — or anything like them. Gatherings will take place, but we won't participate in them the same way. We'll always be looking over our shoulders, bracing ourselves for a pop or a crack or a boom.
The reality has been far more complicated. I've gone back to the book festival and many other happenings on the Mall. Just last weekend I was standing with throngs of others at the base of the Washington Monument as Claire completed the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. I plan to be waiting for her at the finish line of the Marine Corps Marathon in October. It's been 11 and a half years since 9/11. Sometimes I forget.
But the Boston Marathon bombing has made us remember all over again, remember that we live in a different place than we did on September 10, 2011; remember the silent, cloudless sky, the Twin Towers incinerated, the Pentagon on fire.
Remember that innocence, or what we had left of it, is gone forever.