Heartbreaking way to start Spring Break: Now What?

On the calendar it says, ‘Vacation week’. It was going to be a week of lazy mornings and fun spontaneous outings staying in town. I usually love to stay home because the weather is nice and it’s the first days that feel like Spring in New England. After the bombings at the 117th Boston Marathon, that feeling has just been pulled out from under me. Where my feet stood on a plush soft rug with warm fuzziness under my toes, now I just feel frozen in place on a cold, hard, splintery old floor. I’m afraid to make any plans, take a step in any direction because of that splintery old floor.

‘Keep to a routine,’ the experts say. ‘Avoid repetitive images of the tragedy (or any at all)on tv,’ the experts say. Well it’s vacation week where routine, no matter how much some of us try, is thrown out the window. As for television and tv news, these days just about every other business has one playing somewhere and I don’t keep a running list of tv free spaces.

Even on a good week our family appreciates some sort of routine so we’ll create one of our own. We had planned to go to Wellfleet for a night or two, but now I’d rather stay home. We ‘ll enjoy days at the farm, relaxing at the library, meeting friends at the playground, a day pass at the Sonesta pool, a visit to Treat Cupcake Bar, a trip to our fave frozen yoghurt bar, baking and cooking together, planting more seeds for the garden, and taking advantage of the weeklong local events.

Avoiding media images being played over a over again is going to be a bit harder but not impossible especially if you, local businesses, are willing to help. Many if us are home in Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville, Boston, Newton, Wellesley, and beyond this week. We’re taking kids out for a slice of pizza, we ‘re bringing them into the gym to go swimming, we’re bowling, painting pottery, we’re heading out for dinner, etc. If you, local businesses, can be sensitive to a family, walking in the door and either switch the televisions off, run old cartoons or movies, during our visits, I know that parents will get through this week just a but better.

It is not just for the children. As parents, we all have our own way of processing, acting, and reacting to news and the images we see. A week without live tv or at least no live tv during certain hours would be a huge help.

Thank you all for considering this proposal and letting us be able to be out and about around town together.

Businesses leave a comment and I will compile a list of ‘tv safe’ or tv free businesses for this week.

p.s. For those of you looking to help those in need because of yesterday’s events there are many resources. Facebook and twitter have ideas flowing. Including finding places to put up those displaced by the event.