First Lady Laura Bush Wednesday urged Tristate residents to volunteer, visit local firehouses to say thanks and resume normal activities to help heal after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

        “We need to get back to a normal routine,” she said.

First lady Laura Bush makes her way to the podium Wednesday for an appearance in Woodlawn. (Glenn Hartong photos) | ZOOM |

        “We don't want to forget what happened. We don't want to forget the people we lost. We want to remember all those things, and we can't help but remember those things.”

        But normalcy must return for the nation to recover, she said during an interview with The Enquirer during her visit to Woodlawn Wednesday.

        Mrs. Bush was in town for a conference on early childhood cognitive development, hosted by the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana departments of education. Her speech was closed to the public.

        At the same time, her husband, President Bush, was talking with first-grade students in a New York elementary school.

        Mrs. Bush said she and her family are doing well but she and the president were glad to see their college-age daughters last weekend for the first time since the attacks.

        “Like a lot of families in our country, it was very important for us to put our arms around them and see them in person,” she said.

        Mrs. Bush, who has said she wants a quiet, traditional role as First Lady, was thrust into the public eye after the terrorist attacks to serve as the nation's comforter. She has embraced the role.

Mrs. Bush (right) sits at the conference Wednesday afternoon with (from left) Susan Landry, Reid Lyon and Cynthia Phillips. | ZOOM |

        The day after the attacks, she sent out a public letter to elementary, middle and high school students, reassuring them that adults are looking out for their safety.

        She also has made public and television appearances, such as for CNN Tuesday and at a memorial service in Pennsylvania earlier, to publicly reassure the nation.

        Mrs. Bush stressed this is a time people everywhere do their part to help the nation recover.

        In Cincinnati, she suggested that people continue to donate blood, volunteer in classrooms, visit local fire stations to thank firefighters, and take other steps in memory of the lives lost to the attacks.

        “I think this gives each of us a sense of being able to do something to help our country when we volunteer in some way,” she said. “And a lot of people maybe who have never volunteered, I hope will chose this time to do that.”

        As an advocate for children and a former teacher, the First Lady suggested that parents help children through this difficult time by going for walks with them, reading with them, and playing with pets with them — things that can reassure young ones that their lives are stable.

        She also said she hopes young people will consider futures in the careers that proved vital during and since the attacks, jobs such as teachers, firefighters, police and medical workers.

        “Those jobs such as teachers and, as we have seen, firefighters and police are so important to our country,” she said.

        “This has given all of us, but especially young people, a chance to reexamine our lives to figure out what really is important,” she said. “A lot of things that might have seemed important seem trivial now.”

        Her husband's talk with first graders at De Soto Elementary in New York also sought to reassure and comfort the children. He emphasized that adults care about them and share their sadness.

        “One of the things we're learning out of our sadness is what a great country this is,” he said.
       

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