The other "first" that occured that day was not inspiring as the ones I listed above. As I am sure you all know, Boston had it's first ever terror attack (at least in my lifetime) on Monday. Bad things happen all the time, but they never happen to us. The bad things happen to other people, in other cities.
Not this time.
We were cheering for Christina along the 13th mile of the race in a Children's Hospital cheering section. It was a beautiful spring day. The kids were playing on the grass outside of a lovely church, and I was lounging in my chair by the street getting ready to witness something I had never seen before. I thought to myself that this was one of the best days I have had with my family in a long time.
As the runners started to come by, I was feeling a sense of pride and excitement that I had never experienced before. Each time a Children's Hospital runner came by in their orange and blue checked singlets, we would scream loudly and bang our cowbells (yes, cowbells). It was hard not to feel emotion when a runner came by and their family would hug them and share how proud they were of them. Those men and women were running for children. Sick children. They were running 26.2 miles - putting their bodies through something I could never imagine. Indredible.
Our original plan was to see Christina pass, and then drive to Boston and see her cross the finish line. By the time she ended up passing us, we had been in Wellesley for about 3 1/2 hours. Jessica was getting fidgety, and on the verge of a meltdown. Amanda was feeling anxious because of the crowd, and Jack was just plain tired. We decided that we would leave for home, and not go to the finish line.
Once home, we unpacked the car and I took Jack & Jessica over to Christina's to decorate her yard. We wanted to let her know how proud we were of her. How thankful we were for her friendship. We wanted everyone who drove by her house to know that she had done a good thing.
On the from Christina's to my house, I received a text message from her running partner who was out of state on vacation. He asked what was going on, because he was getting alerts on his cell phone that there was an explosion at the Marathon. I immediately turned on the radio, and knew there was something really wrong when a music station was streaming news from a talk radio station. I listened for about 2 minutes, but once I got the gist of it I turned it off because Jack and Jessica were still in the car. They didn't need to hear something potentially horrific about an event they just attended.
I was praying the whole way home that it was just an electrical fire or something less provocative. Once I got home and saw the news footage, I immediately knew it was not an electrical fire. The sidewalks were red. Today's colors were blue and yellow. Not red.
There were a few hours of frantic texting and calling trying to figure out where Christina and her family were. I have never been through anything like this in my life - and I experienced it 3rd or 4th hand. I can only imagine how Christina was feeling. She is such an upbeat, kind, and inspirational person - I didn't want these events to change her.
Luckily Christina and her family were safe. You can read her story here.
I have been truly inspired by so many things that happened this week. The heroism - the raw humanity of people in pain helping other people. I used to complain a lot about stupid, petty things. Not anymore.
It is the little things that happen in your day that change your destiny. Don't get mad at the next meltdown. If you need to slow down for a friend, at the risk of not doing your best - do it. It could just change your life.
And, by the way - I hope you all have a Christina in your life. Mine is pretty freaking awesome.
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