Life Is Good

At least that was what I was going to title my post last night.

After all, I had just finished a run  (Just completed week 7 of couch to 5k.  Woo hoo.) with this gorgeous scenery . . . 

(Okay well - picture it in April - not July - only almost that gorgeous)

And was having a pleasant evening drinking wine and finally crafting . . . 

Then I remembered about Boston.  Sadly, life is not good for everyone.

I stopped watching the news when my husband was in the army.  It seemed like every story meant he was about to get sent off to some war torn country.  But I watched tonight.  I was watching when they took the 19 year old in to custody.

It's all so, so sad.  We live two hours north of Boston.  My mom lives two towns away, and my dad lives in town (part time).  We were just there the day before visiting my mom.  My daughter was in a dance competition a few towns over.  A few weeks ago, we were at Worlds just blocks away from where the bombs went off.  

We don't directly know anyone who was impacted, but I recently learned that the sister of the boy who was killed is also an Irish step dancer.  She lost a leg.  I can't even begin to fathom as a mother and sister what it must be like to lose a son/brother.  A leg would seem like nothing in comparison, but that obviously wouldn't be too easy either - for a dancer no less.  For all I know she was competing in the same feis we were at that day.

And certainly not to empathize with the bombers, but how could someone turn into that?  That's so sad to me, too.  My oldest son is not much younger than the guy who they took into custody tonight.  The only thing I know for sure about parenting is that it's unpredictable.  I hope I'm doing all the right things, but I know I'm making a lot of mistakes, too.  I rarely feel like I'm getting through.  I can only cling to hope that he will remember everything I've said when it really matters.  But he's off playing basketball tonight.  In the dark?  Really?

Sorry to ramble on.  I have so many more fun things to blog about; spring top week, what I made for dinners this week, etc., but it didn't seem right tonight.

Life really is good for me.  I'm lucky to have my family healthy, nearby, and intact.  Hope you are feeling the same way.

Comments

[beth]

Best post I've read in ages. Your empathy and insights are well expressed. We're all in this together. We go bumbling along from day to day trying to do our best, never knowing how it will all turn out ~ just hoping that love and grace and compassion will somehow be enough to patch up our inevitable mistakes. Thanks for this excellent piece.