So, bad things happened last week.

Work was cancelled on Friday because of the "public safety emergency," i.e., the manhunt for the suspects in the Marathon bombing. And although I was well outside the lock-down zone, I didn't feel like I was able to leave my apartment. I woke up to a flurry of concerned texts asking me where I was, and one informing me about work being closed. So of course, I turned on the news. From that moment on, I couldn't seem to turn off the television. For much of the day it wasn't changing. It just kept cycling through what happened on Thursday evening, the faces of the victims, the timeline of how events went down, and the fact that the "shelter-in-place" order was still in effect for the Boston metro area. There were no interruptions in the coverage for what happened in West, Texas or any other part of the world. Not even a break for the weather report.

A handful of my friends were closer to what was going on. They were in Boston, stuck inside. Like I said, I wasn't, but I might as well have been. I was just tense all day. Around 3 in the afternoon, my mom showed up and took me out for a late lunch (I'd been so obsessed watching the news I hadn't eaten anything). I spent the rest of the afternoon with my parents, watching the same news, but it was somehow better to be around them then by myself. Just as my dad was taking me home, they announced they'd captured the second suspect.  I thought once they made that announcement I would literally breath easier, but...not so much. In a way, a handful of normal days later, I can still feel a lingering tension in the air.

Maybe it will get better when they know why the bombings happened, or whom else, if anyone might be involved. Maybe once there are more vigils, more acknowledgement of the victims both living and not, more tributes by sports teams and 70s icons. I'm not sure. I hope that the city, and everyone involved, heals quickly.

Last night, a small group of friends got together for a potluck. We all had "I was stuck inside" stories. So we swapped stories, ate an obscene amount of pasta (we had some yummy peanut pasta, stuffed shells, and mac & cheese as our main dishes), and played a dozen plus rounds of "Cards Against Humanity." Because there's nothing like a little gallows humor to make everyone feel better.