P52: Week 16 - Boston Strong

What a week. This really has been one of the most stressful and scary weeks in my 25 years. Bare with me while I put my thoughts of what transpired this week onto "paper"...

Monday, in addition to being tax day, was Patriot's day and Marathon Monday here in Boston. People flock to the streets to cheer the marathoners on. It's really a fabulous day, but this year I had to work - so I wasn't able to watch (I live 3 blocks from the route at mile marker 24).

I left work early that day for a meeting and was then almost at my gym (a mile from my apartment) when I get a text from a good friend, who lives in California, asking if I was okay. He just heard a report of explosions near the finish line and wanted to make sure I was safe. I rushed into the gym and saw everyone staring at the TVs.  None of us could believe what we were watching unfold before us. I waited as long as I could before I left - knowing my route home was probably blocked, since it required crossing the main marathon route. A mile drive became an hour plus drive as I looped way out into the 'burbs on the highways to make it safely home.

Tuesday was a new day, I woke up shaken, but grateful that everyone I knew running or in the area was ok. It was also Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israeli Independence Day. We had a fun day at school celebrating Israel's 65th b-day. Everyone tried to push the bombings out of our mind, but honestly it was hard. One of my kiddo's dad has ran the day before and was just over the finish line when the blasts went off. He proudly wore the medal all day.

By Wednesday and Thursday there was a return to "normal" - we all watched the news hoping for word that they had suspects or something new to offer the public.  Wednesday night, I went out to dinner with some friends. It felt so good to sit outside and live again and just try to get back to normal.  Then Thursday we learned they had 2 suspects they were seeking and we all hoped that there would be a resolution as quickly as possible.

In the middle of the night on Friday, I woke up to the sound of VERY loud sirens. Not just the usual ambulance I often hear on the way to the hospitals about a mile from my apartment. No, this was a lot of sirens at once for a long time. I shrugged it off and fell back to sleep.  Just 3 hours later, I woke up and as I left for the gym, I saw on twitter what had unfolded a mere 3 miles from my apartment while I slept.

Not long after getting to the gym, Governor Patrick asked everyone in Watertown and the surrounding 6 towns to lock down as Suspect 2 was hunted down. Not only was the gym in one of those towns but so was my apartment. The gym closed soon after that and they sent us all home.

That is when it got real.

I wasn't able to drive to school, which was open (one of the southern suburbs and far from the standoff). I hunkered down inside and was glued to twitter and the news.  The first few hours, I was so scared. At one point, I realized that my heart was racing and I was shaking. I worked on channeling my energy into cleaning the apartment and chatting with friends.

It was so surreal that this was happening 3 miles from my apartment.  I was locked in my apartment on a gorgeous April day. I should have been at work. I was safe, but frightened. I heard sirens and helicopters all day. I listened intently to the news, eventually realizing they hadn't aired a commercial at all.

By late afternoon I was over it. All of Boston was over it. Just a few hours after that the Gov. told us that while the suspect was still on the loose, we could "go out," but carefully.

An hour later, it got serious quickly. I heard from the kitchen "shots fired!" I ran into the living room and sat there glued. Heart pumping. An hour later, I heard on the tv the faint shout "it's over!" Could it be? The local reporter (who had been there since 1 am and had been caught in 2 gun battles) reported that the standoff was over. They had him.

Suddenly, I let out an audible sigh of relief. I had been holding my breath for 5 days, I realized. Then, as I watched the police cars on the screen leaving the scene amid cheering residents, a single tear trickled down my cheek. That was the first tear I had shed all week.

10 minutes later I heard sirens again - lots of them. I realized it was the ambulance with the suspect racing towards the hospital just down the road from me.  Then I could hear people in my neighborhood, outside cheering. The city was safe, it was over.

I slept soundly that night, the whole city did. I realized as I was out on Saturday that the whole area was relaxed again. We might have been back to "normal" in the middle of the week, but we were all holding our breathes. But, we are Boston Strong and Boston Proud and now we're safe and ready to move forward.

Friday night's sports games were clearly canceled. The Red Sox had planned to have a special pre-game ceremony Friday night to honor those killed on Monday. But after Friday night's events the ceremonies were part celebration and part honorarium.  There was a beautiful flag dropping (reserved for very special occasions), the players wore special jerseys, Neil Diamond flew in to sing Sweet Caroline (I dare you not to sing along!), and the Sox won for Boston! I tear up watching the coverage, it was amazing and reason #28193 why I love my city!

It is just still so surreal to realize what this last week was. I cannot believe the outpouring of support you have shown me and the nation has shown my city. Boston is what I like to call a big, small city. Everyone here loves this city more than you can describe. The stories of heroism and strength that have circulated are simply amazing.

So thank you, thank you for sending me tweets, commenting on my insagram pics, emailing, and commenting here. I am doing fine, my city is doing fine, and from here forward we will be more united and proud than we were before and just as President Obama said on Thursday, "the 118th Boston Marathon will be the biggest and best ever"

Your turn and all the details:

- Post 1 photo or an many as you like each week on Monday.

- The button or text link should be present in your post - but not absolutely necessary. 

- Please visit some other blogs & leave some love & encouragement. 

- Submit the URL of your blog post - not your home page. 

Can't wait to see all your photos each week as we venture through 2013!


Project 52

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