Yet another tough week....and there was one other tragedy. (My pants)

Yesterday I was lucky enough to work the memorial reception for the fallen MIT Officer. And by lucky I truly mean it. I, with many others, ran and executed the catering for the reception which was about 12,000 guests (8,000 of those being officers and other officials from ALL over the world). It was humbling to be in the presence. Meeting the Newtown, CT fire fighters and shaking hands with the man who took down the first brother in Watertown were amazing but what was unimaginable were the officers saying, "Thank you" to me over and over again for just being there when really the thank you went to them for everything they do.

I have also NEVER been involved with an event that had THAT MANY sharp shooters and detailed officers. The security on campus yesterday made the the id check at the airport feel like going to a spa. Needless to say I now see the words "lock down" in a TOTALLY different light.

I was at the event site at 4:45am so there wasn't much security in place at that point, well there were 100's of officers zipping around in patrol cars but once the sun started to rise you could feel the lock down in place. Looking up on every roof top and seeing dozens of sharp shooters was surreal. So there I was in the middle of setting up my tent...no staff yet just me and a few other managers running around...I bend over and RIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPP this happened....

Yep I completely, I mean COMPLETELY, ripped the ENTIRE seat of my ONLY black suite pants.... "HOLY SHIT BALLS!!!!!" I take off my fleece, wrap it around my waist and run for my suite jacket because it was 5am and about 32 degrees outside and raining. Then I worked like this for the rest of the 12 hour day. You should see the blisters on my feet but it was beyond worth it. 

To give you an idea of the size of this, this was the very end of the lineup of officers walking into the memorial service. It took well over an hour just to walk them into the service. I know I keep saying this but it really was humbling to be in their presence and they are SO MUCH nicer when they are not pulling you over!!!

Yesterday also marked my first day of eating the plant based diet....after ripping the seat of my pants THAT COULDN'T COME FAST ENOUGH!!!!  So far so good on this whole no meat/no dairy thing. I have to say it is actually much easier than I thought it would be. Like tonight for dinner...

BBQ portobello mushroom burger...AWESOME! With some sweet potato fries and this melon that was a cross between honey dew and cantaloupe. No idea what is was called but I do know it was a $1.99 at Trader Joes, thank you trader joes! Delish!