Ten years ago today the Boston Marathon Bombing shocked the country, the world and our family. T's sister, a niece, nephew and two young great nieces were at Ground Zero on that fateful and tragic afternoon. They had spent the day watching and waiting for her nephew's wife to finish. They had a perfect spot, beneath the Norwegian flag right against the barricade separating the runners from the spectators, with the finish line directly to the left. Earlier they had sent me a text with their exact street number location, right in front of the Marathon Sports Shop. T and I had planned to be there too, but she had to attend a work conference in NYC. So, I stayed home watching the coverage on the local TV network. I watched in the morning, saw the winners and then turned the TV off until I thought our runner should be coming in.
When I turned the television on, the screen was just smoke and chaos. I could not believe my eyes and ears as the commentator was saying that there had been some sort of explosion directly in front of Marathon Sports. My knees went weak, I knew they were right there at Ground Zero. The longest minutes of my life passed until T's nephew sent a text telling me they were indeed right there where the bomb went off, but they were okay. Soon after, the cell networks were shut off and I only had the television. I was able to get through to T before she heard the news to reassure her that they had escaped, by a miracle.
Immediately after the explosion from the homemade bomb in a backpack left in front of the store, someone took photos from a window above. In those photos, T's niece can be seen glancing at a woman in a pink vest next to her. The poor woman was the mother of Krystle Campbell who was standing beside T's niece. Krystle was killed in the blast. T's family is also pictured in the wikipedia page in a photo just after the blast, as they were running to escape. Her sister in the green jacket and niece are falling as her nephew is grabbing them. Her older great niece is reaching to pick up her 8 year old sister in the turquoise jacket. They had been standing under the Norwegian flag where the man in the blue jacket is in the photo. How they escaped is nothing short of a miracle. They ran for their lives. T's sister hurt her ankle escaping. When that was treated, shrapnel was discovered in her other foot.
Ten years after it plays like a nightmare in my mind as I write this. Little Martin Richards who was killed in the second blast should be applying to college. Our world renowned hospitals saved so many. We will always be Boston Strong from that day on.
For the Record,
This day came in with clouds and sun and cooler temps.
I retired from public school teaching after happily spending twenty eight years playing in Kindergarten. Now I fill my days watching cat antics, taking endless...
