Prayers For Boston

Yesterday I was logging in to Skype with my sister in law in California when Twitter started reporting the explosions at the Boston Marathon.

She and I kept one eye on the news sites and one eye on each other as Twitter’s feeds became impossible to follow due to the refresh speed and the legitimate news sites began reporting the story.

My family origins are Bostonian. My parents grew up there, all of my biological cousins did as well. I have been there many many times. I still have a few members of my family and some friends not far from where the explosions occurred. All had reported, via Facebook, within the hour and all were, thank god, fine.

My sister in law pointed out that we had done the exact same thing not quite 12 years ago, only we were in the same timezone, in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was off work because my grandmother had died the day before and I heard on the radio about the Twin Towers, turned on the TV, rang her and we sat on the phone for about an hour watching with horror as the Towers fell.

Last night we had about the same amount of time because it was lunchtime in Berkeley and nearly my bed time here in Belfast. And we chatted and exchanged websites to check and watch online video.

And sent up prayers for Boston.