I love Boston! For so many reasons, it's history, it's culture, it's agelessness, it's people, it's vibrant night life, let's not forget it's fantastic pubs, and oh yes...also because my daughter lives there!
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| Beautiful Boston Commons |
So waking up to news of the bombings in the Boston Marathon was a terrible thing! My first concern, like any parent, was for my daughter, whom I called immediately. She assured us she was safe, and contrary to other years when she would go and watch the Marathon, this day, she decided to stay home. Thank God for that!
After that call, I was glued to the television, watching CNN and Al Jazeera the whole day, getting flashbacks of a similar day 12 years ago, 9/11/2001. On that 9/11, I was in Boston, helping my daughter settle in, for her first year in college. I remember waking up in my rented apartment along Commonwealth Avenue, hearing Katie Couric's voice over television, and walking into the living room and seeing a plane hit a tower, speculation that it could have been an accident immediately ending when the second plane hit the other tower. Remembered again that surreal feeling, a questioning of had I seen what I had actually seen?
I ended up staying in Boston until December of that year. Those horrific events in New York conspired to keep the umbilical cord securely in place for a few more months. My constant dream at that time was of her stuck on this boat, myself on the shore with no means to get to her.
I got to know Boston very well, those first six months and the twice a year visits after that. The Commons became a favorite place to sit, read, watch people, feed the ducks, whatever. Newbury Street was a favorite too for its shops and restaurants. I was a regular visitor of the public library on Boylston Street. We had dinner at the Lennox Hotel on Boylston for my daughter's graduation. Frequented Prudential building on Boylston for the shops and Legal Seafood for lunch
Through the years as my daughter moved from one apartment to another, we got to know other parts of Boston as well. Rode the T often, the red line to Davis Square and Harvard Square, the Green line to Cambridgeside Mall to Boylston and Arlington. And just this year walking down Mass Ave in Cambridge, eating in pubs and drinking wonderful beer! But nothing will beat the summer garden barbecues we have been invited to, and being in New England, featured grilled lobster!
We have met wonderful people in Boston! And now that my daughter will be leaving Boston to work in another part of the world, they will be what I will miss most.
It is with a heavy heart that I realize Boston may not be the same after this incident. But I also know, from what I have experienced of her, Boston will bounce back, stronger, better, and unbowed.
I ended up staying in Boston until December of that year. Those horrific events in New York conspired to keep the umbilical cord securely in place for a few more months. My constant dream at that time was of her stuck on this boat, myself on the shore with no means to get to her.
I got to know Boston very well, those first six months and the twice a year visits after that. The Commons became a favorite place to sit, read, watch people, feed the ducks, whatever. Newbury Street was a favorite too for its shops and restaurants. I was a regular visitor of the public library on Boylston Street. We had dinner at the Lennox Hotel on Boylston for my daughter's graduation. Frequented Prudential building on Boylston for the shops and Legal Seafood for lunch
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| The Commons with downtown buildings in the distance |
We have met wonderful people in Boston! And now that my daughter will be leaving Boston to work in another part of the world, they will be what I will miss most.
It is with a heavy heart that I realize Boston may not be the same after this incident. But I also know, from what I have experienced of her, Boston will bounce back, stronger, better, and unbowed.
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