when I started this blog five years ago, I was a pet sitter and the name animal-crackers made sense. now I'm a stay-at-home-dad and freelance writer, but rather than confuse everyone by getting a different blog, it's just easier to keep posting things here.

I cried on Sept. 11, 2001.

Not only for the lives lost. But for what lay ahead. Many Americans were awakened to a dangerous world. And that fear and resulting ultra-nationalism has gripped our country for seven years.

I cried again tonight.

Tomorrow, my children will wake up and find the world a different place. There is hope again. This is the world I want my boys to know.

I don't expect the economy and all of our problems to magically disappear. If anything, President Obama will face daunting challenges we never thought possible. The burden is unimaginable.

But now there is hope. And that's a wonderful feeling.