If healing implies a restoration, a repair, some sort of return to wholeness, then, no, time has not healed the wound Jan Snyder and her family suffered eight years ago today when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

But time can stanch the bleeding. It can allow the memories of better days to rise without an attendant sense of despair.

"Time doesn't heal but it does smooth out those God-awful feelings," Snyder said. "They've just started to not be so much on the surface."

Still, the Kailua resident says not two hours go by without her thoughts drifting to her stepdaughter, Christine, one of 40 passengers and crew members whose lives ended when the hijacked plane crashed in the western Pennsylvania countryside on Sept. 11, 2001.

A bill this year written by state Rep. John Mizuno established Sept. 11 as "Patriot Day" in Hawai'i, in honor of the victims of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. The measure echoes a similar federal measure passed by Congress via joint resolution in 2001.

President Obama has also declared Sept. 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

In conjunction with an earlier Obama proclamation, Gov. Linda Lingle has ordered state flags to fly at half-staff and has encouraged residents to follow suit at their homes and businesses.

In addition, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann will lead a remembrance ceremony in honor of 9/11 victims today from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. at Tamarind Park. The event also will honor Hawa'i's first-responders, including the Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services.

TALKING HELPS

While official remembrances of 9/11 are now contained to a single day, for Snyder and others who lost family or friends in the attacks, living with the aftermath is a daily, sometimes hourly challenge.

The sense of loss becomes more acute a couple of weeks into August, around Christine Snyder's birthday, and builds as the anniversary draws closer.

"You just can't help thinking about it," Jan Snyder said. "All those feelings get closer to the surface."

But she said she welcomes opportunities to talk about her stepdaughter, opportunities she said that deepen people's understanding of what happened that day and how it continues to impact those left behind.

"I'm not shy about bringing it up," Snyder said. "What is good about that is it brings out the humanity. People feel that one step closer."

Snyder's daughter, Lori, and Christine were childhood friends at 'Aikahi Elementary. By the time Snyder married Christine's father, Neal, the seeds of lifelong love and admiration had already taken root.

"She was the family caretaker," Jan Snyder said. "She just spoiled her brothers to pieces."

Christine Snyder was 32 years old when she died. Just three months earlier, she and her Kalaheo High sweetheart, Ian Pescaia, were joined in an informal ceremony near the water.

A magnetic, spirited young woman who found purpose as an arborist with The Outdoor Circle, Christine Snyder was already making an impact on the local landscape.

"She was just so stoked to be working for The Outdoor Circle," Jan Snyder said. "She was always kind of a crusader. I always thought she would eventually get into teaching or politics."

Before she died, Christine Snyder helped oversee a beautification effort at Magic Island in which about 50 coconut trees were planted. After her death, the city and county erected a memorial bench at the park in her honor. A milo tree was also planted.

Memorial plantings for Snyder also flower at the Kailua fire station, Kalaheo High School and 'Aikahi Elementary School.

Even those who never met Snyder find themselves confronted with her environmental conscience when they receive e-mails from her stepmother.

Jan Snyder recently appended her e-mails with a signature reminding recipients that they can save a tree by not printing the document.

TIME TO REFLECT

Snyder and her husband have been to the Pennsylvania crash site several times. With each visit, she said she is comforted by the dedication shown by volunteer ambassadors who watch the site around the clock, and by the warmth of the surrounding community.

The field itself was something her stepdaughter would have appreciated.

"It's the most marvelous of all places where Christine's life could have ended," Snyder said. "It's such a naturally beautiful spot that if you had asked her what she wanted, she may have picked it."

The local park service acquired the site and expects to begin work this year on a permanent memorial.

Neal Snyder is in Pennsylvania today to visit the site one last time before the bulldozers begin their work. Jan Snyder opted to stay home this time.

Given Hawai'i's physical distance from the Mainland, it can be difficult to feel connected to national observances of 9/11, Snyder said. Still, she said, she hopes people will take time to think about the 2,974 innocent people who lost their lives that day.

"Get the flag out there," she said. "Remember everybody who died."