First of all, no, I didn\u2019t get a car or a gift bag or anything like that at the Oprah taping.<\/p>\n
What I did get was a reminder of how blessed I am to live in America.\u00a0 (I was at the 9\/11 show taping \u2013 \"The Children of 9\/11\".)\u00a0 Danny \"the singing cop\" sang\u00a0two songs for us before the show began taping.\u00a0 He sang \"The Lord\u2019s Prayer\", read a poem about our country being fair and free, and then he sang \"God Bless America\".\u00a0 Several audience members\u00a0joined in.\u00a0 \"God Bless\u00a0America, Our Home Sweet Home\".<\/p>\n
I had a few moments to reflect before the show started taping.\u00a0 I do<\/strong> love America.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a\u00a0perfect county, but it\u2019s mine\u2019s and there\u2019s no place in the world that I\u2019d rather live (visit, yes; live, no).\u00a0 I definitely don\u2019t think that we\u2019ve arrived at our ideals as a county (just check out what\u2019s going on with the Jena 6 case down in Louisiana) but I believe that we\u2019re doing better.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even especially agree with the leadership direction of our country (even though I don\u2019t agree with all of Bush\u2019s policies, I still think that he\u2019s a nice man at heart and would make a great grandpa\u2026but that\u2019s a sidenote).\u00a0 Overall, I love that we live in a democracy and that when we vote (both with our ballots and our dollars), our opinions count.<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the show.\u00a0 Children of 9\/11 victims were on stage with Oprah and the focus was on the children being their parent\u2019s\u00a0legacy.\u00a0 It was supposed to be an uplifting show, but I honestly felt drained from crying by the time that I left.\u00a0 The kids were talking about how their parent\u2019s deaths got harder each year as they got older\/could understand more.\u00a0 I was boo-hooing when parents told about how they had to tell their kids that their other parent was never coming come.\u00a0 I especially lost it whan a man was talking about how he told his 3 and a 1\/2 year old son (the same age as my<\/strong> oldest son!) that his mom had died and was in heaven, but that she could hear him if he wanted to say anything and the little boy said \"I love you mom\".\u00a0 By that point, I was ready to leave and go home to my little boys to just hug them tightly (which I was able to do shortly afterwards).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, the show just reinforced the truth that life is\u00a0a precious gift that can be taken away in a moment.\u00a0 So moms, \"Live Well\" and \"Love Life\" (even on laundry day!).<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"