Five years after 9/11 -- so much has changed

I've spent a good part of the morning tuned into the activities in New York and elsewhere to mark this fifth anniversary of 9-11. In many ways it seems so long ago; in others, it seems to have just happened.
I remember watching the second plane hitting the towers at my sons' elementary school's office. I was dropping something off, and the TV was on. We were horrified. Mrs. Kaplan and Mrs. Ruiz, who were in the office with me, were speechless. Finally someone said, "Oh my God!" Then I thought, We've been attacked. This is war. The horror only grew worse as the day progressed.
My mother, who was then fighting pancreatic cancer, had been looking forward to traveling with my sisters and me to visit Lourdes in France. We were scheduled to leave the following day. Needless to say, we didn't cross the Atlantic until more than a week later, and that was over the objection of all our husbands. As it turned out, it was a wonderful trip and wherever we went in France, we were greeted with open arms. One man at a store left his cashier's post to shake our hands. We saw little American flags waving all over Paris.
I doubt we would get the same reception now.