Boston.

This post is going to be a little different than the normal posts here on Infinite Style. As I am sure most of you know, there was a tragic event in my city, Boston, yesterday. 

"On days like these, there are no Republicans or Democrats. We are Americans."-President Obama

I was a runner in high school and was very excited to watch the Boston Marathon for the first time. I went with a group of my friends. We were all so excited to watch people who have trained so hard reach their goals. The entire city was outside and happy, either at the marathon, or at the Red Sox game.

We were making our way up to the finish line, the amount of people became more and more dense. We were about 100 or so feet away from the finish, and there were so many people we couldn't move. My friend Ashleigh and I were really hungry and so we convinced our other friends to leave so we could go to Chipotle. We left about 5 minutes before the explosions. As soon as we found out (a friend who had stayed told us) we called our parents to let them know what happened (it wasn't even on the news yet) and that we had luckily just left and were safe. We turned on the news and in a few minutes the reports were everywhere. A group of my friends and I were all huddled in one of our friends room glued to the television, waiting to here more.

One of the hardest parts was not knowing if everyone was safe. I had other friends I knew were there and cell service was terrible. It is one thing to watch what was happening on the news miles away, but my campus is an 8 minute walk from the event. The sirens outside and the alarms going off everywhere was more than frightening. I don't think I've ever cried that much in one day. The news kept getting worse and with reports of more bombs being found and shut off around the city. The number of injured, critically injured, and deaths kept climbing. We were all in panic mode. 

As the events wound down, all of my loved ones had been accounted for. I heard so many stories from friends and aquanitences who had been there. A few friends had been there and had been blown off their feet by the force, pushed back and down. Some friends witnessed other peoples limbs being torn off. Everyone said it was horrific and almost unreal how scary it was to be there. I'm lucky to not know anyone in the hospital injured, but various friends of mine have friends who are. 

I'm so lucky to have left when I did, and to be safe. And I am so thankful for all of my friends and family and even people who I haven't spoken to in years who texted and called me making sure I was safe. I am so thankful for everyone who helped, the paramedics, the hospitals, the volunteers, etc. I am so thankful to be a part of such a strong city, a city full of people that care about each other. Last night on my campus, there was a beautiful candlelight vigil in respect for everyone who was effected by the tragedy. We lit a long line of candles and wrote messages and pinned them in the grass of our campus quad. The first two photos are from my instagram (juliettelaura) and the last is an image that is not mine.

I hope everyone reading this is safe, and that all of your loved ones are safe. If you pray, please pray for Boston. If you do not, please send peace and love to this city.

xoxo