Today I am thankful that I live in the city of Boston, in my opinion, one of the greatest cities in the world and indisputably home to the best baseball team of 2013. Today we attended the Red Sox rolling rally to celebrate their win in the World Series. It is a tradition for our teams who have won championships (a common occurrence here) to get on Duck Boats and roll around the city and into the Charles River, giving everyone a chance to come out and see the team and celebrate. I have never been able to attend one, but since this was Maddie's first World Series win in her lifetime, we made sure we were there.
We got up nice and early, put on our Red Sox best and went down to the Boston Common to partake in the festivities. Our dear friend Mary met up with us and we found a perfect place near the parade route with a bunch of grass, trees and police officers positioned around for Maddie to chat with. This kid loves a man in uniform...and I can't say I blame her. She definitely charmed a whole lot of Boston's finest today and had an awesome time clapping, waving and running around in confetti.
This was a hard year for Boston; right as baseball season kicked off we had our cores shaken by a couple of cowards who left bombs at the Marathon finish line. By one and a half years old Maddie had been through her first "shelter in place" and had a shoot-out and capture of a very awful person happen within blocks of where she spends most of her time outside of our own house. It was a scary and sad time for us, and there is a house less than a mile from our own where a little boy will never return home because of the awful attack on our city.
Despite the death, the destruction and the chaos, Boston moved forward, creating and contributing millions of dollars to the One Fund to help the victims of the attacks; organizing runs and events to show our love and support for each other and our city; attending games, cheering for our teams and eventually watching the Red Sox take the 2013 World Championship. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and today we watched our team roll down Boylston Street, stopping at the Marathon finish line where so many lives were ripped apart, for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the bombings and pay respect to a city that has shown to truly be Boston Strong.
Today we celebrated our beloved baseball team, standing in thick crowds without a bit of fear or hesitation despite what we had been through just months before. We cheered as they passed us, the Dropkick Murphys playing live on a flat bed, Big Papi rapping along to his walk-up song.
Then we went along our way, seeking out a place to get a bite to eat. It was a madhouse and people were lining up to get inside of every restaurant, so we ended up catching the T and going down to the Beerworks by my office. Although we were all starving and in need of a beer by the time we got down there, it was awesome to think of how much money was being put back into these places that had to close or experience a lot less business after April. Everyone and their grandmother (no, really!) were out and about on a beautiful fall day, getting lunch, going shopping and stopping to thank all of the first responders who consistently go above and beyond what we ask them to do.
I didn't set out to write about what happened in April again, but it is hard to talk about how much I love this amazing city without giving credit to the incredible way that we all handled the tragedy of the Marathon bombing and where we are now, a mere seven months later.
I am proud to call Boston my home, the city where I met my best friends and the love of my life, the city that has provided me with an amazing career and network of people and the city where I get to raise my daughter, a kid that will never know a Red Sox team without a World Series trophy a mere 23 months into her life. Lucky kid!
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