Talking with my children about the Boston Marathon bombing

Ten years ago, the Boston Marathon was something that required me to plan an alternate route to the hospital where I planned to birth my first born child. I remember telling my midwife that labor was the closest I would ever get to running a marathon. In following years the marathon  was a family outing. We loved the walk across town, darting across the street between runners and spreading our picnic blanket on a grassy hill. Mostly, we loved cheering. These people were determined. They were college students, mothers, paralyzed and blind. Whether they were running for themselves or for someone else, they were running. We cheered our hearts out for their courage and drive. They were doing it! Our small voices added to the roar of encouragement. We cheered for Jen who went to BC. We cheered for Ben who was running in memory of his father. We cheered for Emily who survived breast cancer. Each person that passed was a story told in a fleeting moment.

This year the story we heard began with, "I know you guys have been outside all afternoon, so I don't know if you heard..."

We didn't go to the marathon this year. My husband was working and we were eager to get some seeds in the ground. We stayed home and the tragedy came to us.

I am not sure how I would have told my kids about the bombing. Had my 5 year old not heard from the neighbor, I don't think she would have heard at all. Since ignorance was no longer an option I was honest. "Somebody put bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Lots of people are badly hurt. I am tremendously sad." There were so many questions and so many of them were answered with, "I don't know." There was anger. My children used their strongest curse word, "stupid", with frequency and ferocity. There was also astonishing courage, drive and dedication: the same qualities we have always cheered for in the marathon runners. My 5 year old daughter, the same one who would have been spared this horror, knew exactly what we needed to do. Her declaration was affirmed without reservation.

Next year we will be there to cheer on those runners. When they are old enough, my kids want to run and I promised that when they do, I will always be there to cheer them on.