What Moms Do

In late June of 2010, the K had a conference in Boston and we all went with him. "Great," I thought, "Boston is awesome! It's historic. It has an aquarium and museums, there will be tons to do. What a great family trip!" I was about 4/5th correct. What I didn't count on was that the K would actually attend the conference and I would be on my own, playing tour guide to the children (at that point they were age six, four, and one) in a city I'd been to exactly once time and that was when I was 8 years old.

I came up with an ambitious agenda for our trip including riding the swan boats at the Public Garden, visiting the New England Aquarium, going to the Boston Children's Museum, and taking a Boston Duck Tour. And I was going to do all these things with my entourage of small children and despite my miserable sense of direction. Because that's what moms do. You forget about the hassle and the difficulty and you just do it because you want your children to experience something and you don't want them to think that new experiences aren't worth a little effort. I'm sure that this was similar to what Denise Richard thought when she took her children to see the Boston Marathon. You prepare as well as you can: packing snacks, water bottles, extra diapers, hand wipes, and sweatshirts in your mommy bag, trying to think of anything your children might need on your outing. What you don't count on is a terrorist attack destroying your family.