beantown/bentown

the main object of my recent trip to boston was to visit my big little brother who, in the grand tradition of our family, has taken up residence there for the time being.

i had not been back to boston since i graduated from college nearly seven years ago and, to be perfectly honest, i was a little nervous. there is something disconcerting about returning as a stranger to a place that was once a familiar home. and boston is a particularly crucial place in my life history.

simply put, the life i have now and the person i am now really all started there. boston was the first place i ever turned into a home on my own. it is the place where i fell in love for the first time, the place where i went through the temple for the first time. it is the place where i learned to really be myself. boston is the place where i decided what really mattered to me, and how i wanted to interact with the world around me. it is where i solidified ideas, opinions, my testimony of the gospel. it is where i met some of my dearest, closest, most important and loyal friends, who remain just that to this very day.

boston is where i really met myself for the first time, i think. and i guess that after all this time apart, i was worried that boston and i might not recognize each other anymore.

i should have known better. boston driving certainly hasn't gotten any better and not much else has changed either. five minutes off the plane and it was like we were never apart.

the weekend was really a whirlwind of cramming in as much as i could, with big little brother ben in the middle.

to sum up.

the union oyster house with sarah and KC. i always had to wait until my parents came to town to eat here, because i could never afford it when i was a student. so hurrah for being a working adult.

ben's first ride on the T.




mrs. mallard, plus jack, kack, lack, mack, nack, ouack, pack and quack at the public garden. if you haven't read "make way for ducklings" go do it right now.




my beloved beacon hill. i could spend the rest of my life walking up and down those streets. and we came upon the most delightful group of natty men in bow ties. perfect.




state house and faneuil hall.






the boston temple. one of the best memories of my entire life is going through the temple for the first time here, surrounded by more family members and friends than i can even remember. i still think that heaven will be something like that day, with loved ones all around. i adore this temple.




rubbing john harvard's foot for good luck. i don't know what that's all about, really, but it can't hurt.




and a visit with the quinns. these kids were two years old and six months old, respectively, the last time i took a picture with them. you may notice, they are a little bigger now. ten years old and eight years old, to be exact. and three more kids have come behind them. i won't lie, it sort of freaks me out.

told you it was a whirlwind. but a wonderful one to be sure.

dearest boston, may we never spend so much time apart again.