well, we all know what happened three years ago today. and across the internet, people are writing thoughtful and beautiful tributes and rememberances. so i won't add any ineloquent words to what's already been said. instead, i wanted to wish my little brother, peter, a happy birthday.

three years ago, and all the years before that, september 11th was just my brother's birthday. so as i went to work at the rotunda that morning, a fourth year at uva, i planned on buying him some booze (don't kill me, mom) and maybe a cake, and celebrating that evening.

an hour later, i had rushed home from work, found out through email that my father's building had been evacuated, and that all my other family in northern virginia was fine. i didn't know what to do next - everything was obviously surreal - so in a rather zoned out state, i decided to drive over to harris teeter, and bought peter a chocolate cake and a case of heinekin. he was turning 19.

i went over to his dorm, where the first years were milling around anxiously or grouped in front of tvs in their suites. peter was hanging out with some new friends on the balcony, and none of them knew it was his birthday, so when they saw a strange girl trudging up the stairs with a cake, they all wished him well, in a rather melancholy, subdued manner. i could tell they were thinking that this day wouldn't really be his birthday anymore.

at that time, peter had just finished his orientation week for navy ROTC. i hadn't thought about it then, but for a young man who had just signed up for the military and promised four years of his post-college life to service, september 11 must have been a terrifying day, seeing what was basically an act of war against your country and realizing that you might have to eventually really fight for it.

but peter, if he was ever scared or apprehensive about his military service, never let on. and in the months following, when we went to war with afghaninstan, and then iraq, he never mentioned the possibility of dropping out of ROTC. it wasn't as if he needed the tuition money - my family could well have afforded his years at uva. but instead he threw himself into it all, eventually becoming batallion commander his third year, and serving two submarine cruises in the past two summers. recently, he was offered an exclusive position within the navy - a very high-paying desk job doing nuclear research in crystal city. if he took the job, he would stay there for five years, and not have to go out to sea. he decided not to take it. after graduation next may, he'll go to nuclear power school in charleston for six months or so, and then he'll serve on submarines for the next four years.

it has been exceedingly strange to witness the transformation of peter from skinny, retainer-wearing brat into a navy officer and intelligent chemical engineer. i remember days when i was 9 and he was 7 or so, when we would have fights, rolling around in the living room, and he would literally grab clumps of hair out of my head. i remember calling him a buck-toothed nerd, and him calling me pizza face. i remember getting incredibly angry when i realized he was as good as tennis as i was. then i remember chasing him around the neighborhood with a tennis racket. i remember wanting to basically punt him through a window every day of my life. what i don't really remember, what i don't remember happening, is how we eventually became best friends, how he grew up, how we started listening to the same music, how i saw him playing trumpet in jazz band in high school and seeing how talented he was.

now peter is 22, and basically, he is one of the best people i know. i'm realistic; i know that serving on a submarine is not the same as being a marine or being on the ground in iraq, but still, i think of the years ahead for him, and i get scared, and worried, and wish that he had been a normal college student like i was, getting drunk and not waking up early on weekends and just going to colllege football games instead of having to clean up after them to raise rotc funds. then i think about it some more, and i realize that i don't actually wish that he was like that; i feel lucky that i have such a brother, who is more admirable than many people i know, that he is someone i respect, that he is someone i know who has taken the time to learn about the middle east and that he can help the miliitary become a better place. i am glad he has looked at my father, and grandfather, and seen that they served, and learned from it, and taken their lessons with them through life, and have decided to help the government and america become a better place. i know he's going to do the same.

there wasn't really a point to this post, except that i wanted to focus on something positive that happened on september 11th, and my brother's birth was by far the best thing i knew. and i wanted to share that, for some reason, with the people who read this. horrible things happened on september 11th; we all know that. but i also wanted to let you know that things happened on september 11th that will eventually make this world a better place.

happy birthday, peter.