It is amazing how we tend to take everything for granted when really we shouldn’t… The big car, the big house, the kids, the job that makes you ridiculously rich… It all seems so normal to us to have all that, we forget that we can lose it all on one day.
Monday, April 15, 2013 it is such a beautiful day, everyone is outside and as it is the tradition every year, people are running the Boston marathon. I was supposed to meet friends in the afternoon so I leave my house and take the direction of Fenway. As I get to the meeting place, i try to get myself busy until my friends make it to the place. But I can't seem to be able to wrap my mind around whatever it is that I am doing. There is that weird feeling that kept on bugging me… you know that feeling you have when something bad is about to happen and your intuition is telling you “ you better get you’re a** out of here otherwise it's not going to be good for you”.
As none is coming, I change my mind and I decide to leave. On my way to the train station, I see a lot of ambulances, the police is everywhere and the traffic is crazy. There was a big crowd coming toward me, it seemed weird but I thought maybe the marathon was over and the people were just leaving the place. Then I receive a call from one of my acquaintance. I couldn’t hear my friend, she asks me if I am still at the cafe and I said : “no, I don’t want to stay, I am waiting for the train to go home” and she told me “ I just received an alert on my phone saying there was a bomb explosion on Boylston street and the train is down. Stay where you are until the area is clear and safe enough for you to leave.”
Monday, April 15, 2013 it is such a beautiful day, everyone is outside and as it is the tradition every year, people are running the Boston marathon. I was supposed to meet friends in the afternoon so I leave my house and take the direction of Fenway. As I get to the meeting place, i try to get myself busy until my friends make it to the place. But I can't seem to be able to wrap my mind around whatever it is that I am doing. There is that weird feeling that kept on bugging me… you know that feeling you have when something bad is about to happen and your intuition is telling you “ you better get you’re a** out of here otherwise it's not going to be good for you”.
As none is coming, I change my mind and I decide to leave. On my way to the train station, I see a lot of ambulances, the police is everywhere and the traffic is crazy. There was a big crowd coming toward me, it seemed weird but I thought maybe the marathon was over and the people were just leaving the place. Then I receive a call from one of my acquaintance. I couldn’t hear my friend, she asks me if I am still at the cafe and I said : “no, I don’t want to stay, I am waiting for the train to go home” and she told me “ I just received an alert on my phone saying there was a bomb explosion on Boylston street and the train is down. Stay where you are until the area is clear and safe enough for you to leave.”
As I was on my way back to the little café which was less than 10 minutes away from the explosion site, I heard people talking about it and one of them told me when I asked if it was true : “ yes it is, I was 5 blocks away when it happened.” I was literally shocked… I could retrace in my mind the pathway I took to go to the café, remembering myself saying “wow the marathon! It is so beautiful…”as I was on the bridge leading to Fenway. I had no idea, when I was passing that area that two bombs were about to explode, almost 10 to 20 minutes later. My mind just went blank and I started to shiver just at the idea that I could have been there, it could have been me that women hit in the head by the debris from the explosion or that man stuck under the security fence after the first bomb exploded. It was just surrealistic what was happening outside: the ambulances, the police, and the helicopters hovering over the area every 5 minutes… It just seemed like there was a remake of 9/11 right in the heart of Boston… I still have chills just at the idea that it could have be me…
I went back to the café waiting for the area to be clear and after an hour ½ I managed to find my way back home. As I was on the train, there was that man on the phone, who ran the marathon. He was probably talking to a relative or a friend who called to check on him as the news of the explosion spread quickly. He said:
“ yes… I was running the marathon but I am fine… I missed it by ten minutes. I had already passed the line and I was heading to the hotel when it happened… Thanks for calling and be safe.”
Ten minutes later and he could have been among the people that were rushed to the hospital… As I got home and gave my mind some rest, I realized that nothing on this earth is granted and your perfect world could be turned upside down any minute... You never know when it will happen or where it will happen, you never know if you will make it home tonight as you are leaving your house. You never know what might take away from you the most precious things you have in your life. This is the reason why you should always be grateful for what you have and enjoy every single moment with the persons that are dear to you. As I am home and grateful that I am alive, I am thinking about the people who lost their lives in the explosions especially that 8 years old boy as well all the people who were injured.
“ yes… I was running the marathon but I am fine… I missed it by ten minutes. I had already passed the line and I was heading to the hotel when it happened… Thanks for calling and be safe.”
Ten minutes later and he could have been among the people that were rushed to the hospital… As I got home and gave my mind some rest, I realized that nothing on this earth is granted and your perfect world could be turned upside down any minute... You never know when it will happen or where it will happen, you never know if you will make it home tonight as you are leaving your house. You never know what might take away from you the most precious things you have in your life. This is the reason why you should always be grateful for what you have and enjoy every single moment with the persons that are dear to you. As I am home and grateful that I am alive, I am thinking about the people who lost their lives in the explosions especially that 8 years old boy as well all the people who were injured.
As you will go to bed tonight, think about what you have that people don’t and be grateful for it. If you don’t find anything to be grateful for, think about that kid who is gone and about his family that will always have a bitter taste of life every year around this period.
Now you have a reason to bow you head and be grateful, keeping in your mind that nothing is for granted especially life…
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