My usual routine with little lady on Mondays is to hop on the Orange Line train to Back Bay and take a walk around Copley and the Pru with a sweet end of frozen yogurt before we head back home. Today, though, we happen to be in Seattle – 3,000 miles away from home.
We had a few friends who were running the marathon today and we had been invited to come watch, but we had to decline because of our trip out here. We would have been right there cheering on our friend Grant who was 5 minutes away from the finish line when the bombs went off.
But it was lunchtime here in Seattle when I went to check Facebook and started to see some odd status updates. As I continued to search, I began to see images like that above and far worse. My heart just broke. I immediately sent a text to a friend of ours who works right there as well as to our friends who would have been nearby and running the marathon. We called my husband to make sure things were okay with him too and that his route home wouldn’t be too impacted. I checked Facebook and Twitter non-stop today to see if everyone was okay.
As soon as we were at my parents’ house, we turned on the news and my little lady was asking lots of questions. It was hard to explain to a three – almost four – year old what a bomb was and what was happening back home. It was even harder to try to answer her questions of, “Mama, why would someone want to hurt other people like that?” I turned off the tv and gave her extra hugs and kisses before I held her in my arms for her afternoon nap.
Little lady is worried about our friends and I tried my best to reassure her that everyone is safe and that there are a lot of helpful people like the police who are going to find the bad guys and will keep us all safe.
When the Newtown tragedy happened, I found a quote from Mister Rogers that spoke to me. I am reminded, again, of that quote from Mister Rogers: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” I also read this and took this away from an article on parenting.com:“To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
A fun and beautiful day has been blackened by these tragic and senseless events, but I hope (and hope for my daughter) that she will hold on to the stories of the marathoners who ran straight to MGH to go and donate blood, or of the first responders, police, firefighters, emt’s, hospitals, doctors, etc who came together to jump in and help those who were injured, and the community of Boston as well as the rest of the world who opened their homes, hearts, and prayers.
We are heading back to Boston late tomorrow night and we are thankful that everyone we know seems to be safe and that our home is still standing strong.
Dear Boston, we’re sorry we were 3,000 miles away from you on this day. In our hearts, we were right there beside you – with tears and heartbreak. We are trying hard to be brave and to see the beauty rise from the ashes of this day. We are eager to head back home to you and to stand with you to shine the light of hope and peace that darkness cannot drive out.
Stay safe Boston.