Today I take a break from fashion and interior design and my sarcastic observations of the day to day, to reflect on the past 6 months. It wasn’t supposed to happen.  It was supposed to be a joyous day for all of us who were cheering on our loved ones. In one moment, our lives changed. At 2:49 pm on 4.15.13, I stood directly across the street from the first of the two bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon. I smelled the bombs; they smelled like fireworks on the Fourth of July. I heard the screams – worse than you hear in the movies. I experienced a fear that I never knew was humanly possible. As I stood trapped in the bleachers across from the bombs I could hear the screams of those only feet from me that were not lucky enough to make it out alive that day combined with those around me as we thought we were going to be next. I remember calling my sister as I ran from the bleachers to tell her what was happening and also feeling that it was the last time I would be alive and able to speak to her. My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that were killed and all of those that continue to live with their injuries.
Since that day, I have changed. With a lot of therapy and a lot of internalizing, I have become stronger and more purposeful in my life; my perspective on what is important and what is silly and what is worth fighting for have become much clearer.  I have also have become less sure that tomorrow is a given. Just this past Sunday, my husband (who was stopped one mile short of finishing the marathon) and I went to cheer on his little brother at the BAA Half Marathon. I felt very anxious at the finish line. The fear of that day in April waved over me – as I watched supportive and loving family members and friends cheer on their runners, I looked around remembering the way a similar day’s happiness was shattered and I felt afraid.  But I stayed and saw Danny finish strong. This day ended differently. Love and hope and human spirit prevailed.  That is what I take with me from the past 6 months; life does in fact go on and can be quite beautiful, but things will never be the same again. I urge all of you reading this to love harder, feel deeper and try as hard as you can to not sweat the small stuff.

I want to share again the quotes that I shared here months back, which hold even more truth now than they did then.

“It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” 
― Rose Kennedy

“So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, ‘The good outnumber you, and we always will.'” 
– Patton Oswalt