surreal

So hearing all the news about the bombing at the Boston Marathon has gotten me a little bit shaken up. First of all, it is just incredibly sad.  And scary.  And today it hit a little bit close to home.  I have some very good friends in Boston, people that I care about a lot (hi Vicki!).  I can't imagine if something would have happened to them.  Thankfully, all my friends (and friends of friends...people who were blocks away when it happened) are all fine.

I've mostly been avoiding the news because it really just bothered me a little bit too much.  But, I was curious about where in the city it actually happened.  I visited Boston in September 2011 (read about that here) and really loved it.  Turns out, I stood on the exact street corner a year and a half ago.

Here's a picture from my trip.  We had just gotten off the T to head to Newbury Street.  Just behind the Boston Public Library (the fancy building on the right) is Copley Square.  Note the two bus stops in the foreground.

Here's a picture from USA Today.  They put together a graphic detailing the location of the 2 explosions.  I added a yellow dot to show the exact vantage point where my picture was taken.  (You can just barely see those same 2 bus stops from this aerial view).

If you go to the same place on Google Maps, the screen shot is exactly the same as if you would combine my photo with the map from USA Today.

That's eerie.  It's amazing to me that something so bad can happen in such a cool place to such innocent people.  I can't imagine what the people of Boston are feeling now.  I stood on one corner for one moment in my life and feel bothered by what happened.  This is their city, their home.  Bostonians must really feel shocked.

It has also made me reflect back a bit over the shocking losses that have occurred this past year.  (I lost a dear professor and mentor back in December.  It was very unexpected.  I witnessed another friend grieve the sudden loss of a close friend of hers.)  I currently feel a lot of the same things that I felt during those times.  If you care about people tell them.  Tell them what they mean to you and how you feel. You never know when something might happen and you'll never get another chance to let them know how important and loved they really are.