Boston, Massachusetts

The Innkeeper in Woburn was named Mary Ellen, and she was a dream shaper from the start.  Even upon check in, she eagerly solicited the dreams we had for our stay.  Clearly, her job is to make sure that our stay was everything we had dreamed it would be, but she became our partner in planning, and she knew Boston.  After a few phone calls, we were not only booked on our tour of Boston that would last an entire day and encompass at least a dozen of Boston’s historical sites, but we would actually drop off the tour at the end and spend the evening in Boston.  At the end of the night, we would call Mary Ellen’s friend Yessur to come and get us and drive us home.  What more could we ask for?  Absolutely nothing, well except their luggage, and just as we were walking out of the hotel to wait for our Boston Bus Tour, in walked Katherina and Mia’s luggage with one of Boston’s finest…taxi drivers.  Amen!

Here was our tour (from the brochure):

*”Visit the Charlestown Navy Yard where Old Ironsides (USS CONSTITUTION) and the WWII DESTROYER USS Cassin Young are berthed (http://www.history.navy.mil/ussconstitution)

*Bunker Hill Monument (www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/bhm.htm)

*Old North Church (www.oldnorth.com) and Copps Hill Burial Ground (www.thefreedomtrail.org/visitor/copp-hill.html)

*Visit Faneuil Hall and Quincy Marketplace (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com)

*Paul Revere’s House near the Boston Massacre Site and the Old State House (http://www.paulreverehouse.org/trail/..%5Cindex.html)

*King’s Chapel (http://www.kings-chapel.org)

*State House (http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/massachusettshouse.asp)

*Passed by the “Cheers” bar (http://www.cheersboston.com)

*Harvard University (www.harvard.edu)

*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House (http://www.longfellowfriends.org/index.php)

Boston had so much to take in, but when the time was right, we jumped off the bus and plunged ourselves into the City.  After a little shopping on Newbury Street, we were ready for some dinner at Papa Razzi (www.paparazzitrattoria.com).  I was exhausted but my heightened senses enjoyed every morsel of food and thread of our conversation.   It was like a dream I had, but even better.  Then came Yesser…

Yesser picked us up right on time, and on our journey back to the hotel he narrated to us about his migration to America from Turkey.  His sweet and humble voice was musical as he unfolded his heart and shared the dreams for his future.  Woburn is only 8 miles from Boston, but it seemed like longer as he spoke.  When we arrived back at the hotel, saying goodbye hurt.  Yesser felt like family now.  The odyssey home took us into someone else’s dreams through the open and genuine sharing of his heart.