Reflections on the Bay State

Happy Sunday, everyone! It's a beautiful day here in NYC, and I plan to take full advantage of it. I hope that wherever you are, the weather's cooperating, too :)

So...unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the tragedy that struck the Boston Marathon last Monday and the subsequent manhunt and apprehension of the one surviving suspect in the attacks. Now I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I felt the need to reflect on all that's been going on. Boston is a city very close to my heart: not only because I have family and friends that live there currently, but because I used to live there and spent lots of time there growing up. So needless to say, all that's been going on this past week really hit home for me and I felt the need to put my feelings and reactions down on paper.

For me, Monday started off on a great note. My mom and brother came into the City on Saturday to spend the weekend with me, and we had a great time visiting museums, eating out, and enjoying each other's company. When Monday morning rolled around, we had a nice breakfast together and then said goodbye. The plan was to drop my brother off at his apartment outside of Boston, and my mom was going to stay in the suburbs at a family friend's house so she didn't have to make the whole trip back to Maine in one day. I hate to say goodbye when family visits, so I did so with a heavy heart and headed to work.

The next thing I knew, I was browsing the headlines and got word of the bombs . The first thing I thought about was my family: how I had said goodbye to them not 5 hours earlier for them to drive directly into the horrific scene unfolding in the City we all love so much. While Mom and Byron both arrived safely and were fine, what I felt in those moments was not relief but confusion. Obviously I was wondering why like everyone else, but I also felt completely powerless. I couldn't find the words for what I was feeling but I knew that this affected me to my core. The lack of answers and information only exacerbated the feelings of helplessness. In those moments I felt a deep empathy for those whose lives were irrevocably  changed in those fateful minutes. 

While I can't begin to offer anything besides my own feelings on the subject, I think it bears reiterating that it is so important for us as human beings to take care of each other. Don't hold back with your expressions of love for those you care about. Don't be shy. Let it out. Be bold and demonstrate it. Although we can't change what happened last Monday, we can control how we let the tragedy affect us. If we love in abundance, nothing will ever break us.