In 2001, I proposed to my girlfriend, saw Times Square and the rest of New York City for the first time, and stared up at the Sears Tower in Chicago the night of September 11. In 2002, I will get married, graduate from college, get my first job, and likely move out of West Michigan, where I grew up.

These life milestones continue to pass, even as historians will sum up this past year in one day in September. In 2002, Osama bin Laden will either be captured, killed, commit suicide, or be lost forever, and the country's mood of patriotism and uniformity figures to wane as foreign affairs get less black-and-white with the diffusion of terrorists into smaller camps in more obscure countries. That is, barring another terrorist attack, in an airport or state capitol or mall. The nation will try to dig out from a recession, and perhaps try to put education and poverty back on the front burner. One wonders how we will remember September 11 one year from now.