Boston Marathon

4/15/13:

At this point, Keith and I had been living in New England for almost 9 years and had yet to attend the Boston Marathon.  The kids and I went with some friends to see the race, and we were so excited to get to view our first marathon.

 The soldiers march the whole marathon in full gear.  It's pretty special to see everyone leap to their feet and cheer for them.

 Off the top of my head, I can't remember which one, but one of these ladies won the marathon in the women's division.

 Here is Team Hoyt.  Their story is truly inspiring and seeing everyone cheer for them brings tears to your eyes.  Seriously, anyone who understood the magnitude of this father's love had tears in their eyes.

 Again, I don't remember, but I think it's the one in the blue that won for the men's division.

 Joey and his friends eventually started having a competition of how many fives they could get.

 There were some characters. . .

 Eventually, when most of the crowd had left the boys started playing.

 This man juggled most of the race. 

After we left the race, the kids and I headed to a restaurant to have lunch with some different friends when in the background we heard the tragic news that there were two explosions at the end of the race.  In that moment, I don't think I understood the magnitude of what was happening.  Perhaps I was just focused on spending time with our friends, but on the way home I just remember panicking.  Keith had been traveling.  He was still in the states, and away from the city, but I just remember calling him in full panic mode begging him to come home as quickly as possible.  I honestly didn't know what was happening, and just wanted my husband home with us.

A few minutes after arriving home, we had some friends text us to ask us to pray.  Her sister had been in the race and they hadn't been able to contact her, yet.  I couldn't believe it.  Just hours earlier, the kids and I were trying our hardest to find her running at the Hopkinton line!  I'm just watching the television reports in horror.  I'm trying my hardest to make sure the kids do not see or any of this while trying to remain calm.  Inside, though, I was just a mess.  Keith was on his way home, but was still an hour away.

Knowing that I actually knew someone that was in the middle of this mess, I was a wreck.  Our friend's sister is a nurse and was racing with nurses and doctors from her hospital.  If anyone is going to stay and help, she was.  For a couple of hours, there was no contact.  Her family had headed to her home (as originally intended) to meet her and her husband after the race for a cookout.  Thankfully, as the whole family was sitting around waiting and praying, both she and her husband show up.  My friend said it was such an emotional reunion.  I can only imagine how relieved they must have each felt.

Thankfully, neither the sister or her husband were injured.  Her husband had been close to the finish line when all of a sudden he felt the first explosion and seconds later he felt the other.  He was directly in the middle of both explosions.  His first instinct was to find his wife, and instantly started running toward his wife.  He (by the grace of God) found her not too far away.  At this point, she had said that the race was canceled and racers needed to stop.  The husband found her, grabbed her, and they took a cab to their house.  The city was hectic.  None of the cell phone towers were working and traffic was horrible.

By the time Keith got home, our friends had been found, and I was in a better place.  Here are the kids enjoying some ice cream . . . completely oblivious to the day's events:

And just a bit of humor . . . here's Levi with the cone of shame.  The weekend prior he got placed in it; there were numerous laughs at his expense.  I know this is horrible, but we laughed so hard when he barked and flinched because it was so loud in that cone!