A Rude Awakening

Mr.YemenEm woke me up out of a deep sleep Tuesday morning by telling me “There was a terrorist attack at the finish line of Boston Marathon.”

First, I just heard “there was a terrorist attack” and assumed it was in Yemen, possibly near the U.S. Embassy, our place of work. Then I processed the second part. In Boston, really? I immediately thought of my bestie, Lauren who lives in Boston. Hours before I went to sleep, I had read her Facebook update that she was volunteering at the 25th mile of the race. I did some quick math and realized she was just a mile away. Then I remembered that our other dear friend, Jess, (who officiated our wedding) was also at the race. Mr.YemenEm very quickly checked their Facebook pages and saw they were fine, much to our relief.

How ironic that we’re living in a place that causes our family and friends — including Lauren and Jess — to worry for our safety since we’re in a in a “dangerous” country with known terrorists who want to kill Americans. And then they are the ones who end up being in the closest proximity to a terrorist bombing. Makes me feel like it’s everywhere. But I need to remember to keep some perspective. The chances of being randomly killed in a terrorism attack are infinitesimally small. And, perhaps more importantly, the good things and people in this world so drastically outweigh the bad, that’s it’s a futile effort to even do the math on that one.

Boston is especially near and dear to Mr.YemenEm because it’s his adopted hometown. He moved there after college and has tons of friends in the area, including his bestie. We’ll be visiting Boston in June, and can’t wait to be reunited with our friends.

Thinking of the city of Boston,

YemenEm