Marathon Monday (with a couple pictures)

 

For my friends outside of New England, this past Monday was Patriot’s Day. As per usual, kids got the day off from school, businesses throughout the Commonwealth shut down, the Boston Marathon took place and the Sox played an 11am home game. Just like every other year… Except… it didn’t feel like just another year, and everybody knew it too. Dozens of Police officers waited at the entrance of every (open) subway station to check bags and trucks from every news station you could think of from around the world littered the streets. We all understood why, but it still made you hyper-aware of your surroundings. That being said, Monday was absolutely incredible.

Now I realize I can be an emotional guy, but when I say Monday was very moving I’m fairly certain even Ebenezer Scrooge’s heart (pre- A Christmas Carol) would have been touched. Seeing complete strangers standing side by side cheering on people they don’t even know brought a smile so big to my face that I felt as if I tore a muscle. You could tell it affected the spirit of the runners too. Most acknowledged the cheers with a big smile and a waving of a hand, while others thanked the crowd with arms raised and fists clenched as they ran along, ever closer to the finish line.

A staggering 99% of the 35,000 marathon participants finished the race, and over a million friends, relatives and others spent hours that day yelling their support to each runner that passed by.  

Watching all this unfold made me realize that last year’s tragedy made way for this year’s beautiful resurrection. It all seemed weirdly symbolic for this to happen a day after Holy Week. For those of us who are Christians, Good Friday was without a doubt the darkest day this world has ever seen, yet Easter Sunday was the brightest.  I couldn’t help but make that correlation as I saw hundreds of people run by me. It was like a Sunday sermon being preached by the city of Boston, and I was lucky enough to be sitting in a front-row pew.

As promised here are the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's also some others I took this past week because I was bored...

 

Disclaimer: Let it be known I took the Sox pictures when I got off work! haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, enjoy here's some good driving music for this beautiful weather!

Foxboro, Fenway and the Upside Down Kingdom

The first beautiful weekend in New England finally arrived… and I was off of work to boot. For those of you that know me well, this weather is what I’m all about. From volleyball to Mellow Mushroom. Frisbee to Virginia Beach. Whenever the temperature got over 60 degrees I was outside doing something.

Even though I traded North Carolina day trips for North Billerica train stations, this weekend was no different. Saturday my brother and I took off to Gillette Stadium to see an MLS match between the New England Revolution and the Houston Dynamo. I loved (almost) every second of it.  From the hour-long drive to Red Robin Burgers to the game itself, I don’t remember the last time I had that much fun... Well except when I realized I forgot the tickets to the game, but we got that sorted out with the ticket office fairly quickly. Still, few moments in life can top driving with the windows down and belting out a song at the top of your lungs. Bonus points if people stare at you.

 

Sunday was a little more reserved. I’ll be honest with you guys, I hadn’t stepped foot inside of a church in a pretty long time until today. And I’m not even sure today counts since their service is held in a movie theatre. Regardless, I found myself stepping out of my comfort zone and into theatre #12 at the Regal Cinema near Fenway Park. By most standards, the church is a small one. Maybe 100-150 or so people were there today, but it was still incredible to be surrounded by a church family. We talked about the Upside Down Kingdom of God, and how God chose to build His kingdom through the poor rather than the powerful. It was just another reminder that Heaven will be filled with all sorts of people. Beggars, Fisherman and Kings are all loved by God the same. I really liked it there and I look forward to returning Easter Sunday. Afterwards I took my parents to Chipotle just because my mom had never been. Steak Bowls FTW. #TeamSteakBowls

The rest of my day compromised of watching my recording of the Liverpool-Manchester City game (LIVERPOOL!!!) and… being alive? Yeah that’s pretty much it. Oh. And I took some pictures.

Also, if you're looking  for some summer music might I suggest this?

 

 

 

Opening Day

Some times in life things seem to good to be true. Yesterday was one of those days. I couldn't help but think that it was all a dream... That at some point in time during the day I was going to wake up and it would be 9:30 p.m. The time I usually got up for my old job. Now I know I've said that before, but it was how I felt throughout yesterday.

As most of you know by now, yesterday was the home opener/ ring ceremony for the Sox. Because of that a lot of us got there pretty early to make sure everything went without a hitch. While I can't say everything that I did, my day was spent working with volunteers on top of the Green Monster (Fenway Park's 37 foot-high wall in left field) as well as setting up/ tearing down the equipment for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Dropkick Murphy's. Working in front of 37,000+ screaming fans was definitely one the craziest feelings I've ever had. Still, those moments paled in comparison to the time in between setting up and tearing down which was spent making jokes with the firefighters of Engine Company 33 Ladder 15 as well as an Air Force Chief Master Sargent from my neck of the woods.

Now if you hadn't heard, recently there was a big fire in Boston that killed 2 firefighters and injured a slew of others. So naturally the Red Sox wanted to find a way to honor the brave men who worked tirelessly to put out the fire and prevent the fire from spreading throughout the Back Bay.

As you can imagine, upon seeing these guys enter and line up next to me my mind was filled with a lot of different thoughts and feelings. Thoughts of admiration and honor. Feelings of being excited to be in their presence and sadness for the reason they were in my presence. Now if you know me, I'm bad at starting up small talk. Like wicked bad. But yesterday was bitterly cold so naturally that's what I started out with. It was so much fun. From describing the Opening Day Ceremony to them (we couldn't see it from where we were standing) to assuring them we'd take pictures of the event, that was definitely one of the most fun things I've ever done. Before they left to take the field I made sure to thank them for their service, to which  the just shook their heads and waved off my thanks. Very cool group of guys.

After the ceremony, I was off the clock and able to soak in the atmosphere of Fenway. Let me tell you, if you've never been to a game, or haven't been in a long time, you need to go. The history of the park, the knowledgeable fans and the Boston skyline in the background make Fenway a beautiful place to take in an MLB game. Plus I'll probably be there! Haha

Anyways today I start my real job of working on Yawkey Way, I'm sure more awesome memories will be made and I'll definitely writ a few down within the coming weeks. Have an incredible rest of  the day, and enjoy some good music by my friends The Doodads and Don'ts (FREE ON NOISETRADE.COM)