This past week, I was visiting friends in Texas when a bit of a rampage of anxious excitement and terrified stress hit Watertown at precisely 1 a.m. in the morning, Friday night. The whole world was watching the news unfold on live television as the city of Boston shut down and law enforcement searched door to door in my neighborhood for the second Boston Marathon bomb suspect, who had been identified by the FBI just hours prior. Jose texted me when the SWAT team came through my house with a police dog and I could imagine how uneasy his stomach must have felt even just thinking about it. I felt ill all day and was addicted to reading the Boston Globe's twitter feed for a few days straight. Certainly a lot of Bostonians were at least mildly traumatized, and are working it out through public events, memorials and personally consoling one another. Patriot's Day, already an enormous day of pride in Massachusetts and an annual holiday here, will forever be a memorial day as well.
In all of this sorrow, I still find myself feeling grateful that the casualties were not worse. Grateful that we have renewed strength and hopefully tighter security at public events, too. And grateful that we live in a place where this doesn't happen every day, but when it does happen, it reminds of us of the warmth and protection that exists in our community.
I love this sign from one of my neighbors.
