If you know me you know that I
don’t leave a 15 mile radius of my home very often. Sometimes I will go to
Brunswick to see Seth at work and get Frosty’s donuts. Occasionally I will go
to Freeport or Portland to go shopping. I almost never leave the state of
Maine. But it was important to Seth that Abe and I see him run the Boston Marathon.
I figured that we had sacrificed a lot of our time with him so we should see
the result of that. My friend Amy and her 8 year old James came along since she
was versed in the marathon and the city.
I was really nervous about
driving into the city and being there with my toddler. We made great time,
getting there in just over 2 hours. It was a cinch to get there. Although I did
mortify Amy by driving onto Boylston Street (right at mile 26) which she
insists was closed off. I did have a golf cart coming at me, and I had to part
a crowd of people so I could turn into the hotel parking lot. I’m not convinced
the street was totally closed off. But she slouched down in her seat and turned
bright red.
Once there things went very
smooth. We let the kids play in Boston Common. We found an awesome spot around
mile 25 and I was able to scream over the crowd “SETH, SETH, SETH!” All while
waving one arm like a mad woman and trying to prop Abe over the crowd with my
other arm. He heard us, saw us, pointed and then put his fists to his chest and
started to cry a bit. It was a really emotional and exciting time. He finished
in 2:48, an awesome race for Seth. He was pleased, we were happy, we were going
to go get lunch. Seth was going to eat something other than kale and oatmeal!!
We were waiting for a table at
Cheesecake Factory when the bombs went off. It was the most terrifying thing
that has ever happened to me. It was like we were in the movies, like you see
on the news. I looked out a window into the mall and people were running out looking
behind them with terror on their faces. I will never ever forget that. I was
sure there was a shooter up there. I was holding Abe and we ran out onto the
street to run away, but how do you know where the shooter is? I was so afraid
some guy was going to come around the corner and shoot me and my baby. I held
Abe in front of my body facing away from the mall hoping a bullet would hit me
and not him.
No one knew what was going on.
We walked the opposite way we came and seemed to be walking into it. People
were crying, sirens everywhere. Today I Google mapped the way we went and at
one point we were just standing in the street trying to figure out what to do,
there was a street up ahead of us and now I see that is Boylston Street, we
really were walking right into it. Luckily we sensed we were wrong so we walked
the other way, not sure what was safe, unsure what was happening. Walking the
other way we saw people with blood on their shirts. This place wasn’t safe
either. Then Amy's sister called and asked where we were and when she told her
she told us there had been bombs at the finish line and people were without
limbs. She told us to get the fuck out of there. It was only then that the
police nearby told us to run in another direction and tons of people just
booked it. We ran and ran and ran. We went all the way out to Fenway.
Amy has since described leaving
Copley Square as rings of chaos, the further we went out the calmer things
were. Finally there weren’t many people around and things were more quiet
(except the sirens that were nonstop), we found a bench to sit on and figure
out what to do next. This was the first time that I was able to look at my
phone. I’m not much of a texter but I had a ton of text messages from worried
friends and family. I texted just a few key people knowing they could let
others know we were OK. I called my sister knowing she would be put more at
ease with a phone call. I could hear the worry in her voice.
While we were sitting on that
bench Amy explored the area to find a milestone that her sister could find so
she could pick us up. Amy’s son James sat with us looking terrified. Seth told
him that this will be a great story to tell his friends. He said, “If I live
that long.” Poor James was just so scared. Abe is young enough that he didn’t
know we were in trouble. He thought it was great that we were running with the
stroller.
Finally Amy’s sister Katy was
able to find us and packed all of us and our huge jogging stroller into her PT
Cruiser. What a sight to be seen. She brought us to her home in Quincy. We stopped
at Panera to eat but it wasn’t until I was in her home that I actually felt
safe.
We settled in, Abe fell asleep
on me, and we tried to figure out what to do next. It seemed the city was on
lockdown and we weren’t sure how to get the car which was in Copley Square. We
decided that Katy would bring Seth in and hopefully he could come get us. Of
course they wouldn’t let him out of the garage. Amy and I thought of renting a
car but the company was closed for the day. We ended up staying at Katy’s house.
Her husband went out and bought diapers for Abe (I didn’t have any at all) and
bought us all toothbrushes. She set up beds for us, put out pajamas for us,
gave us snacks, gave Abe milk. I am so indebted to her.
I think I slept just a couple
hours that night. When I did fall asleep I would wake up shortly after shaking
and remembering what had happened. Abe slept like a dream.
The next morning Seth was able
to get the car and pick us up.
You never think you will be that
close. We were 1,000 feet away from the bombs. I feel lucky that Seth ran fast.
I’m probably never going to
leave Kennebec County again.
