Boston Marathon Bombing

Over thirty years ago, my husband and I moved to Massachusetts.  We've lived in a number of different locations; currently we're about 25 minutes hour north of Boston, which is the furthest we've been from Boston since we moved here.  We don't run, and neither of us is a marathon fan, but the Boston Marathon is a big deal here.  I mean, a Big Deal.  These days, I typically go the website of a local tv station in the early afternoon of Marathon Monday, to watch the live coverage of the race.  But in the past,  I worked in a building right on Boylston Street... the corner of Exeter and Boylston, to be exact.  For those of you not familiar with this area, that's less than a block away from where the explosions were.

The pictures we're seeing, are very haunting.  Yes, the terrified, bloody faces are haunting.  The people being knocked to the ground by the blast, the people being carried in the arms of rescuers, or being wheeled away in wheelchairs -- those are all haunting.  But for me, some of the most haunting pictures are those of the sidewalks.  I've walked those sidewalks, many many times.  I know that area well.  There's not supposed to be blood on the sidewalks.

This nation has certainly had its share of tragedies... but this is closer to me, geographically, than any of the others have been.  So it feels different.

We have no family in New England, our families are spread out from Florida to Utah, with some family in Germany as well.  Between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, we heard from all of them.  As I said, we don't run, and we don't follow the sport of running, and all of our family knows this.  And most of the phone calls went along the lines of 'I don't think you guys ever go to see the Marathon in person, but I just wanted to check'.  My niece is currently in basic training in Texas..  so she's allowed no internet time, and her telephone time is also extremely limited.  But her ?training class? was informed that if anyone had family in the Boston area, or who might have been at the Marathon, they were permitted an extra phone call, just to make sure everyone was ok.  It's always nice to hear from family, and we make a point of staying connected and talking frequently... we didn't need this extra excuse to call.  Plus, I found that I was unable to adequately convey how this affected us.  I delayed posting about this, in the hopes that I would find the proper words, but I still don't have them.

The entire nation,and even other nations, are showing tremendous support to those affected by the Boston Marathon Bombing.  But perhaps the response that touched me the most was a sign projected on the facade of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, in New York City.

You see...  that stylized 'B' in the picture, means the Boston Red Sox.  It's a special font, created by the Boston Red Sox, long before people really knew what fonts were.  The  rivalry between the New York sports teams, and the Boston sports teams -- especially the baseball teams -- is truly intense.  You can't fully appreciate this rivalry, unless you've lived here.   But this horrific act of terror transcends that traditional rivalry.  To me, this sign was more meaningful than if the word 'Boston' had been spelled out.

This is truly a sobering time.  

A time for tea, and further reflection.

(Please do not comment on this post, there are plenty of other places to comment on the bombing.  All comments will be removed.)