Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 3

Marathon Day

One week after Erin was rushed to MGH for emergency surgery, and one day after she woke up, Boston shut down for Marathon Monday and an onslaught of runners from all over the world took over the city. In 2001, Erin and I had been part of that onslaught. When rowing season ended the previous fall, Erin wanted a running partner and I wanted to get to know her better. At first I volunteered to train with her, which turned into us running the whole thing together. We spent hours that winter, usually in the early mornings, winding our ways through the streets of Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington and Medford.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 2

Erin Wakes Up

I played my cards right and was there when Erin woke up, feeling a little sneaky for going to the hospital on the day Rob told me the doctors were backing off the drugs. She’d been sedated all week, as long as she needed oxygen, and the requisite tube down her throat, for her lungs and heart to recover. Now her medical team thought Erin had enough strength to handle the shock of waking up. When I arrived, her face was simply her face again. No tube and no tape running across it. I stared for a minute or more. The sight of her made me want to cry and made me want to dance.

Erin's Mack Truck - Chapter 1

I sat in Erin’s driveway and wondered what to do. I went there to make dinner in celebration of Erin and Rob’s new baby. Inside were supposed to be Erin, Rob, their new baby boy and redheaded five-year-old who, if tradition held, would put on a princess outfit and sing songs from Annie. But no one answered the door. Erin’s car was gone. Where would the whole family go four days after Erin gave birth?

A black pickup pulled into the driveway with Rob’s twin sister and older brother in it. We all got out.  Adrienne looked pale and shaken.

“I don’t know how much you know,” she said.

Banned in Danvers High

Oh Bleaker, your meep

So expressive, so concise

Now four letters -- banned

Meep! The power of the meaningless, Boston Globe, December 13, 2009

Locations

The Pilgrims landed more than once

First in Provincetown then later

In Plymouth

And this week we will eat turkey

To celebrate and not think too much

About Plymouth Rock, which is only a rock

Misnamed and mistreated

By tourists with chisels

Turning it to sand

Like the sand in Provincetown, positioned

As a hand

Waving to the open sea

On this rock, a myth was built, Boston Globe, Nov. 22, 2009