I woke up the morning of April 15th to my husband scrambling out of bed. “I have to get over to Keri’s. We’re going to watch the start of Boston Marathon with Donna and Soraiya.” It was no biggie really, they do this every year. Last year Donna and Soraiya ran the race and everyone met at Keri’s to watch the start. This year it was Colin who was running it. Conny, his wife was there with him. Little did we know what the day had in store for everyone. Then all the craziness happened. After a fury of texts and Facebook messages we got confirmation that Colin and Conny were fine. Colin had finished his race just minutes before the bombs went off! This was so scary for everyone. Scary for Conny and Colin, for my husband’s running group, not to mention our whole community in general… all communities really!
It’s funny because that morning my husband and I were chatting about how fast he’d have to be to qualify to enter the Boston Marathon. I know it’s a bit of every runner’s dream to run the Boston Marathon and he told me with a little bit of regret that he doesn’t think he’d ever be fast enough to qualify. Later I told him with relief I was glad he’s too slow to qualify. He thought it was a little less funny when I also announced this to my pilates group! We all got a much needed giggle out of it. However, I don’t think Boston will ever leave my mind as I stand and wait for him at any finish line. Which is why when I saw the “To Boston With Love” flag project that’s being put on by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, I knew I had to include his running group. Their team name is “Run like Hell” but in light of the circumstances and so we didn’t give the wrong sentiment we thought perhaps we’d put our love on the inside of the binding instead.
I also thought of our boy’s school (James Cameron) and how important it is to cultivate compassion. After a quick chat with our principal I got the go ahead to have each child sign the flag. Then I sewed it to look like this.
Berene Campbell, the visionary of this project, flew into Boston with all the flags made from the various Modern Quilt Guilds on Monday. Each flag is being tied together as we speak and is being displayed at the Boston Museum of Fine Art as part of their free Memorial Day Community Weekend.
See the world is made of lovely people!
