Patriots' Day and Marathon Monday

It's Patriots' Day here in Boston, also known as Marathon Monday, and it's a state holiday. Patriots' Day commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord and there are always reenactments of those battles in Lexington and Concord. When I first lived in Boston, I went to part of the Lexington reenactment. We mostly just saw people dressed up like Minutemen, marching along the road. I think we might've seen a small skirmish with some red coats too.

The Boston Marathon is always on Patriots' Day. It starts in mid-morning in Hopkinton, MA (west of Boston) and usually around noon, the first of the runners are at the finish line. The marathon is a big thing in Boston. They shut down a lot of major streets and there are always huge crowds at the finish line. I've stood at the finish line several times - it is really moving to see people make it to the finish line, some running, some limping and crawling. You are allowed to run if you fit into either of these categories: 1) You have qualified for the marathon by running one or two other marathons with a specific time; or 2) You are running for a charity. My friend Jen ran the marathon once. She ran for a family friend who had died of cancer, and raised money for one of the cancer organizations. I think it's especially moving to see the people running for charities make it to the finish line, because many of them aren't even runners. They're just trying to challenge themselves and do a good deed in the process.

For me, Patriots' Day marks the beginning of real spring. The trees and flowers are in bloom, and it's usually much warmer and spring-like than the "official" first day of spring (March 21). Only a few weeks until I can plant my garden.

Annie remains in the hospital and will probably be there for at least a week longer. She is still on oxygen, still in the isolette and last night they had to put a feeding tube in because she's not eating enough to gain weight. She's actually losing weight. She is very good hands at the hospital, although I desperately want to bring her home. At this point, because taking her out of her bed and holding her expends energy, we have been discouraged from holding her very much. We can hold her around meal times, which happen every three hours. This is pretty hard - I really could sit there all day and hold her.

My mom is visiting from Buffalo and arrived on Saturday night, staying til Wednesday morning. It's good to have her here because I really need the extra support right now. Jim went to work today and my mom and I are going to go to the hospital to do Annie's 11:00 feeding.

I guess this starts the first full week of my maternity leave. It's weird. I called into work last week to make sure the transition was going smoothly. I miss my bosses and my clients and the work itself. I had a lot of projects that I was trying to plow through before the baby came, and now they have to finish them for me. It's hard to let go, especially for a control freak like me. I guess the transition isn't just happening at work - I'm going through it too.