Running for Boston

Part of having a large family means there are loved ones everywhere. That's usually good. I mean, I can travel almost anywhere in this large country and have a place to stay! Yet, when there is a tragedy--whether natural or a massacre--it seems there are people we need to account for.

My cousin, Jesse, is a great athlete and amazing runner. He's a big guy, and he often wins races for his bracket. He blogs about his races at Pedals & Paddles Worldwide. He always seems to be somewhere amazing for a foot race or cycling event.

He's also from Boston.

Hearing about a tragedy at home is hard. It's hard for all of us. It's down right scary when it happens, and you have to worry about people you love. I'm from Colorado, and we've had more than our share of shootings and violent massacres. It's just not fair to have to call up friends and loved ones to see if they're OK. It also doesn't seem fair to account for your loved ones, only to remember that others weren't so lucky...

In my family, all we needed to hear was about a bomb at the Boston Marathon to think of Jesse. Was he running in that race? If he was, were my aunt, her partner, or my other cousin there cheering him on?

Through the family grapevine, we quickly found out he was OK. We later found out that, yes, he'd been at the race, cheering friends on near the 20 mile marker. I felt relief, and then struggled with that same feeling of guilt that I'm too familiar with now: that wretched feeling that not everyone got good news yesterday.

So, today, I wanted to write and send my love out to everyone affected by this massacre. To everyone who got hurt, to the survivors, to the injured, to the families and friends, to the first responders, and just to everyone who felt pain and fear after reading about it on the news, I'm sending love your way.

Jesse is running in The Pittsburgh Marathon in a few weeks. His goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon to run next year. In my opinion, there's no better way to fight back against the vicious attack the city of Boston went through yesterday. Good on you, Jesse. Kick ass in Pittsburgh!

Link to Jesse's blog entry on The Boston Marathon

Me, I used to run. My running decreased a lot after Oliver was born, and it stopped all together after getting pregnant with Jo. We've been dealing with snow yesterday and today, and it's going to continue into tomorrow. This weekend, I plan on lacing up my shoes and going for jog. One mile, that's my goal. It's not a marathon, but it's a little bit in honor of all the runners yesterday--many of whom went so far and never got to finish.

Edit: A Facebook group has been set up called "Run for Boston 4/17." They're asking people to go for a run tomorrow. If people can, they also ask for everyone to take a picture of themselves wearing blue & yellow and carrying a sign that says, "Run for Boston." It's supposed to snow and be a high of 37 here, but I think I'll try to get a little jog in for the people and city of Boston.

Back to Reality

I spent a long weekend on the East Coast. My cousin had her wedding in New Jersey. We have a very large family on my mom's side, and it's impossible to go to everyone's weddings and graduations and even funerals. We do our best to go when we can, but it was especially important to me to make this trip. I had enough miles with Frontier to go. My ever-generous parents were planning on attending, too, and so they let me ride along in their rental car and even stay in their hotel room for free. How many people get to spend a weekend on the East Coast for next to nothing? I feel incredibly lucky.

Andrew and his parents watched the kiddos while I was away. I missed their faces and their cute quirks, but I was also able to enjoy my time with virtually no responsibilities. It was pretty amazing not having to worry about where the kids were at all times, if they were OK, if they were getting into mischief, if they were hungry or needed a diaper or needed to use the potty. I wouldn't have been happy without them for a long period, but three days was nice.

It's good to be back home with them, but it's also hard getting back into the swing of things. When I get back from vacation, I become such a procrastinator for a few days.

If you enjoy reading about travel or want information on some places to go or things to see, you can find my travel blog entries from our trip here: http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WhirledPeas/Trips/22359. I think the best travel tip in there includes our 1-2 hour stop in New York City. If you are ever passing through New York and need to know what to do with a bit of time on your hands, definitely check it out!

I do my best to keep that blog separate from this one. Whereas this blog is all about my family life, my kids, and my projects--something for my kids to look back on one day--that blog is typically about what to see and do as well as my critiques of places I go to eat or tour. So, not shown in that travel blog are most of the pictures of my family (unless it's kind of relevant to the travel). Here are a few snapshots of my loved ones (as you can see, there were little ones for me to hold and play with when I needed a mommy fix):

One of my many beautiful cousins pictured above is going to be throwing a birthday party in Iowa this summer. I'm considering driving up with the kids by myself (eek!). My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I don't think it will be that bad. Right?