Love that dirty water...

I am from Massachusetts.  Not Boston proper mind you, but the suburbs.  I grew up thinking Boston was the be all end all of cities.  That it was the place to go to do anything super fun.  My folks were good about bringing me in to do things like First Night on New Years, free concerts in government center, Faneuil Hall, Red Sox games, Franklin Park Zoo, North End treats, tall ship tours, and coolest of all we got to ride in on the T.

One of my fondest childhood memories is watching the Boston Marathon.  "Marathon Monday" takes place on Patriots Day which is a state holiday in Massachusetts so we always had the day off from school and there were loads of people out and celebrating all over Eastern Mass.  We would usually watch from Newton Lower Falls which is a town just outside the city.  Now that we live in Minnesota I have often thought about taking the girls for a vacation and cheering on the tremendous athletes.  There is an energy on the day of the marathon unlike any other- everyone feels a camaraderie and similar to the Olympics all are rooting for human spirit and athleticism.  The fact that this tragedy struck on this day of all days feels especially painful.  The fact that a child was killed hits my gut and makes me furious and sad at the same time.

My tendency when these things happen is to end up in a dark place in my mind and being pregnant made me jump to that place even more quickly.  It might sound cheesy but the little messages of hope that people have put up on social media have been helpful.  Remembering to see the good.  To focus on the good in people.  To be hopeful.  These are important messages and that is what I want my children to remember in times of crisis.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

So this morning when we woke up and the girls were going to stay home again with a case of conjunctivitis I decided we needed to do something positive so I didn't make myself crazy.  I was happy to have a day with them even in their cranky eye-drop-needing condition.  I showed Ada an image of the "B" on my computer and she knew it was for "Red Sox".  I told her it was a symbol for Boston and that the people who live in Boston had a bad day yesterday and needed extra love. We decided to do a big painting project for our front window and I sketched out the "B" then Ada and I painted it while Emma had her own "B" to paint since she's not one to stay in the lines- really on any level.

So this was our art project today.

Emma mostly painted herself...then later her sister leading us directly into the shower after this activity.

I folded and drew half a heart and Ada cut the hearts out beautifully.

All while Emma coated herself in applesauce.

Then Ada and I hung our work on the front window.  Jim watched.

Many, many people have already written about this tragic day.  I couldn't just carry on with posts about stuff without recognizing this event.  It should also be said that all the athletes who competed yesterday are amazing individuals and my hope is that runners will still want to compete in Boston and we don't let this taint the spirit of the event.  I would still like to bring the girls to watch and cheer, and maybe they will even want to run it someday.