The Boston Marathon

I haven't read many articles or stories on what happened yesterday at the Boston marathon. I wouldn't have even known what had happened if it weren't for rob texting me. I told him my cousin was stopping through Atlanta and we were going to meet up. He responded wow that's cool, and in the same response said two bombs went off at the Boston marathon finish line. My first thought was no way. Literally I thought no way that happened, it must be an accident or a small mishap at the race that got exaggerated into bombs via social networking sites. I just couldn't and still can't believe it.

My heart and thoughts go out to those who were killed and injured. To the racers who worked so hard to qualify and spent the last many months training for what was supposed to be and had the potential to be one of the greatest events they would get to experience. To the city of Boston that I will always love and miss so much. And to the event that is The Boston Marathon. As a BU alum, as someone who spent many marathon mondays at BU watching and cheering on my now father-in-law run the race, as a wife of a marathon runner- a Boston Marathon runner, as someone who lived in Boston post college, as someone who still gets excited about marathon Monday even though I'm 1,000 miles away - I just can't stop thinking about how this loved event will be forever changed. I know the race and the tradition will go on, I know Bostonians will recover from this stronger than ever, I know next year might be the best running of the Boston marathon to date....but still, the magical, fun, race of all races, seemingly exclusive Boston holiday will never be the same, and that makes me so sad.

I want to thank everyone who sent texts and messages to me yesterday, making sure I was not with rob at the marathon this year, making sure all of our friends in Boston were ok, and just letting me know they were thinking of us since Boston is so close to our hearts. I thought and told so many how I am just so thankful that Rob wasn't running this year and that we weren't in Boston. But when I told that to rob, whom also received many texts from people saying how they bet he was glad he wasn't running this year, he said, "No, I absolutely wish I had had the opportunity to run the Boston marathon this year. Running that race again would be awesome. Bombs should not be going off at the marathon, that's just not something that should be happening. That's how I feel about it."

My new job

Today was the first day at my new job and it went pretty well!  I'm now working as a front desk/assistant at a chiropractor's office.  It is a growing practice with two doctors, everyone is super friendly and welcoming, the office is less than 15 minutes from my house, and they are very active in the community sponsoring many local races and events (they specialize in sports injuries/ART).  It was difficult to leave my job as a caregiver, just like it was hard to leave my job working with the ladies at the group home.  When you work that closely with people you develop great bonds with them and it becomes personal, much different than leaving a 'typical' job, but I am really looking forward to this new opportunity and know it was the best career choice for me.  Cheers to a good first day, and here's to hoping tomorrow goes even better!

Michelle+Free Concerts=Great Weekend

April is off to a great start!  I had such a fun weekend I'm sad it had to come to an end.  Michelle came to visit on Friday and stayed through Sunday.  There were lots of free concerts downtown in Centennial Park for the NCAA Final Four tournament, so we went down to see My Morning Jacket and Zac Brown Band Friday night.  Michelle and I had a great time, but I felt really bad for Rob.  He was really looking forward to seeing MMJ play, but unfortunately he was stuck at work until 8:30pm (MMJ played at 7pm).  He has never had to work that late, at least not since Boston, and so of all the nights for that to happen to him I couldn't believe it was that one.  He did make it down to see some of the Zac Brown Band, but with the really bad cell phone service we weren't able to meet up with him until after the show.  

As excited as I was to spend time with my sister, Roxanne was even MORE excited to see her.  Roxanne loves Michelle.  She doesn't see her very often, but every time she does her tail won't stop wagging, butt won't stop shaking, and the kisses are never-ending, it is too funny.  Roxanne even slept with Michelle while she was here.  Saturday it was so nice out we decided to have a picnic in Piedmont Park.  We brought Roxanne with us and took her to the dog park there.  

That night we went out to dinner at Noche, an awesome tapas restaurant not too far from us, followed by frozen yogurt and watching the NCAA tournament.  Luckily Michigan won, and Rob is actually at the final game right now as I type this!  Go Blue!

Sunday, Rob and I went down to the final day of the concert series- Grace Potter, Sting and Dave Matthews Band.  It was much more packed than it was Friday night, but we ended up getting a pretty good spot and had a fun time.  It was so nice to see DMB outside (the last few times I've seen them have been inside), for FREE, right downtown.  There aren't any summer tour stops near ATL this year, so it was great to have this chance to see them.