Boston Marathon Bombings: A Little Too Close to Home

I was going out of my mind yesterday trying to get in touch with my family who was in Boston but the phone lines were jammed.  My Dad, recovering from his second bone marrow transplant, had a doctors appointment at Dana Farber and was in Boston with my Mom and three youngest siblings.

I figured my family was okay because I knew they'd be at the hospital where Dad's appointment was, but it was still nerve wracking because I knew if the city shut down they'd need a place to stay and I was concerned about the little kids having to see horrific sights that nobody should have to see, much less children.  I knew there was a greater chance of them seeing those things at the hospital.

My parents are stubborn and refuse to carry a cell phone so the only way to get in touch with them was by calling my 13 year old sister's phone, but what I didn't think about at the time was that everybody else was trying to call loved ones too and so the lines were all sorts of jammed.

I'm happy to say that my family is safe back home this morning in Albany, but as you'll see in the email below from my Mom, they were literally seconds away from the first explosion.  If my Mom had turned one way instead of the other, today could have been a very different day:

Just getting in. We are fine. Missed the bombing by seconds.  I decided to go to the left instead of to the right to leave the hospital.  The two bombings were to the right and exactly where we would have been at that time.  As we drove to the left Sarah asked if we could go to JFK Library.  I thought and said, "Not today."  We just drove a block away.  God kept us safe!  We did see lots of people running the marathon as we left Boston.  There were lots and lots of police.  We got past a police barricade this morning just 7 minutes before all the streets in that area were shut down for the marathon.  We had no idea what was going on today.  Also, there was a ballgame at Fenway which is close to where the bombings were.

 Please thank God for His protection!  Pray for all the people involved!

  Dad has graft vs. host disease.  We have to go back on Friday morning.  His mind is very bad today also.  He is not capable of making any decisions again.

 Love, Mom