Dear Boston

In this post I was solely inspired by my sister to express my feelings about the Boston Marathon explosions. I will give you a little background info before I start.

My sister (Megan) told me a while back that she was seriously considering participating in the Boston marathon. She is an avid runner so I figured this was the next natural step in her running career. She had done everything she needed to do to be a part of it and was excited about making the journey to Boston to participate in such a prestigious race. When April 15^th finally arrived I went to work as usual, hoping to hear from my sister by the end of the day to congratulate her on accomplishing one of her goals. What I didn’t expect was to get a phone call from my best friend asking me if my sister was alright. I panicked. I knew where she was, but had no knowledge of what was happening in Boston. I immediately got on the internet and found out as much as I could about the bombings. I still haven’t heard from my sister. I called my dad to ask him if he had heard anything and he had not. My stress level went from a 7 to a 10 right then and there. My efforts in trying to reach her weren’t going as successfully as I would have liked. I could feel my body start to sweat and shake, and as each minute passed it got worse. Finally, my best friend called me back to say that she had posted to Facebook that she was ok and had finished the race minutes before the bombs exploded. I was thankful that my sister was fine, but my heart didn’t feel joy. The reality had sunk in. My sister survived unscathed, but a lot of other runners and supporters weren’t so lucky. As I sifted through the horrifying images I just kept seeing one thing that really stuck out to me. Most of the people unaffected by the bombings weren’t running away from the explosion. They were running towards it. I was speechless. It was so heartwarming to see people helping others who couldn’t help themselves. It gave me hope that once all the smoke had cleared, and the dust had settled that we, as a whole, would be alright. We would survive, we would prevail.

After I got off work, I called my sister to see how she was doing. I could tell in her voice that she was shaken up by all of this. She told me that she was alright and that she was going to try to get some rest after a very long a tumultuous day. What is truly incomprehensible is that this isn’t her first time being involved with a tragedy. On 9/11, she was only a few blocks away from where the World Trade Center attacks took place. Even though I knew this wasn’t something to be proud of, I knew it would help her cope with this unfathomable act of violence.

A few weeks after the attack she wrote a beautiful song dedicated towards Boston and all of its victims. It’s called Dear Boston. I cried the first time I heard it. I still have a hard time getting through it without crying. This song may not heal someone physically but it can help us all heal emotionally. It is a little piece of hope. It shows us that we may get knocked down but we will always get back up. All I ask of you is to listen to the song, if you feel compelled to purchase it, even better, all of the proceeds from the song are being donated to One Fund Boston. You can download her song at here.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away

I have known pain, I have known agony, I have known loss, what I have never been able to experience is another person's pain. Not physically at least. Recently, a few good people in my life have been affected by some truly heart breaking circumstances. I don't want to speak candidly about their situations but they are unfathomable. I can handle the pain when it's placed on me, but when others feel pain I feel completely and totally helpless. Nothing hurts me more than seeing someone so riddled with pain, and in tears because of a devastating event. Like having something they loved ripped away from them due to a miscommunication or a technicality, or fighting a battle that seems to be insurmountable. I know this all seems quite vague but I am writing to a few particular people who have been dealing with these challenges for a long time. They know who they are and I hope they realize that I might not always know what to say in person, but I can express myself better with words.

I don't remember who said this next piece of advice but it has stuck with me. It goes as follows... "We can control two things in our lives, our attitude and our effort." Now this particular person was referring to a sports analogy but I believe this also applies to life. If we go about our lives with a poor attitude and don't give our lives much effort then we will never truly be as great as we can be. We can abruptly change our outlook on life if we focused in on the positives of a negative situation. These people that I am referring to, have done just that. Their attitudes towards these obstacles have made their situations much easier. They have grabbed the proverbial bull by its horns and rode with the punches. I keep telling them that they will be stronger for this, even though they might not see it right away.

What really inspires me about these people is that I have never seen them at their worst. I have seen them when they were down and out, but never their worst. They put a smile on every day even if they are in excruciating pain. They never let anyone see them sweat. I've never been one to hold my emotions in, I wear mine right on my sleeve. With these two, I have really never seen them have a bad day. They have their moments of weakness, but who doesn't? They have handled everything that has been thrown at them with so much grace. I honestly don't know how they are able to keep it together considering what is going on with them, but I do know that they are now my heroes for it. They give me hope that one day, if I were to face a hardship, if I just follow their lead, I will make it through just fine.

To Rook and Hope,
Please continue to stay as strong as you always have been and please continue to shine your bright light in to this dark and gloomy world. You cannot be defeated or denied. I am proud to have you as my friends and even happier to have you as my daily inspiration. Keep fighting the good fight, stay positive, and never give up!

the times they are a changing

I think this year is going to be a year where I embrace change. I saw an amazing quote/picture on my favorite TV show the other night, it allowed me to have this complete moment of clarity. The picture was a representation of "stepping outside of your comfort zone" it was basically saying that if you allow yourself to step outside of your comfort zone then magical things will happen. Right then and there I knew that stepping out of my comfort zone will grant me access to some untapped amazingness.

Opening yourself up to something new can really show you just how talented you really are. I could throw every cliche quote about "thinking outside of the box" at you but the only way for you to experience that feeling is for you to do it yourself. I dare you to do something different this year, something incredible. Do something that will change your life forever. Make a memory or two. I know your thinking "what if I fail" "what if I don't like what I do" I say to that, you'll never know until you try. You might do something you think you will hate and end up loving it.