![\"MAP_small\"](\"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/MAP_small.jpg\")
<\/a>Sid and I were standing across the street from the second bomb (Image adapted from the NYTimes).<\/p><\/div>\n
——————————————–<\/p>\n
The Prudential Tower is small now. Sid and I catch our breath. On this deserted brownstone street, only police and ambulance sirens remind me that something is wrong. Terribly wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were so lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it destiny?\u201d I try to joke with Sid. A couple of hours ago he said it was destiny that our bus arrived just as we got to the stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d he looks at me. \u201cThat was just dumb luck.\u201d Another ambulance whizzes by.<\/p>\n
——————————————–<\/p>\n
Sid and I come to a barricaded street with marathon runners still going. We jump the fence. \u201cYou can\u2019t go through here!\u201d An officer stops us. What\u2019s wrong with you? There\u2019s just been a bomb! Let me go home. <\/i>I look at him in disbelief but do as I\u2019m told. I follow the crowd as we are ushered several blocks down into a narrow intersection. This big crowd in a small space seems like a bad idea. <\/i>The green line subway drives by.<\/p>\n
——————————————–<\/p>\n
An hour and a half later, Sid and I cross the BU bridge out of Boston, into Cambridge, and onto my street. Two workers are planting pansies in the garden. Sid and I let go hands and I realize that he has been holding really tight.<\/p>\n
——————————————–<\/p>\n
In the apartment we turn on the news and start to watch re-plays of the bombings. It looks and feels just like any other bad thing that is played on TV. It doesn\u2019t feel like the place we were at. We keep watching, wanting to get answers, but knowing that every replay of that same video turns toxic inside our minds.<\/p>\n
Sid and I hold each other tight. \u201cYou were good, cutie,\u201d he says and squeezes tighter.\u00a0 \u201cYou crouched down after the first explosion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. You don\u2019t remember that? After the first bomb you dropped to your knees. After the second one, we ran.\u201d<\/p>\n
——————————————–<\/p>\n
Once I\u2019m safe and at home, all these stupid thoughts start to surge. It would have been okay to take a picture\u2026 Why didn\u2019t I look around more… I should have stuck around to help\u2026 <\/i>I start to understand survivor\u2019s guilt. In hindsight, obviously there were only two bombs. After hours of watching replays of the \u201ctwin bombings,\u201d it is easy to forget the moment. I have to remind myself that after the second bomb, all I knew to be true in the world was that more explosions were coming and I just needed to get out.<\/p>\n
![\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Boston Marathon is a joyous occasion. A sea of spectators outlines Boylston Street to cheer and encourage waves of runners in bright shirts and colorful sneakers. A woman runs by pushing a young girl curled up in a wheelchair. \u201cYou\u2019re doing great!\u201d, yells someone in the crowd. Sid holds my hand and we make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Msn_58D6F6F8599FFBFE42D7B279395A26_h316_w628_m5_cwALcBouU.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/389"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/linacolucci.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/130415171849-24-boston-marathon-explosion-horizontal-gallery.jpg\"){kind=link}