Boston Today

What were the chances that Ted Kennedy would die while we were in Boston? We are - in Boston, and he did - die. Today is the funeral and everybody who is somebody is in Boston, including the President.

We're staying over in the Theatre District, a couple of MTA changes from the JFK Library and several miles from Mission Hill, where the mass will be said this morning. But anyone can feel the grief, the pride, the celebration of life for the last Kennedy "grownup." Every TV involves the watcher in these special events, especially to warn away the non-dignitaries from the celebratory sites.

Bostonians are friendly and talkative. Dave and I noticed that the first time we visited the city in 2006 and we talked about it when we got home. We decided that it must have been a happy time for Boston for some reason and we just happened to enjoy the good mood. Nope - they still outdo Southerners for hospitality and helpfulness; they volunteer directions and restaurant recommendations. And they speak objectively about their politics.

Yesterday, a former teacher and tour guide overheard us at the Starbucks on the corner across from the hotel. We had decided to pick up a car at the airport and drive to Maine for the day.

"Well," she said, "Let me tell you how to get to the airport." And then she added, "I'm going out to the Library - my ninety-year-old woman wants to sign the book for Teddy." She further told us that not everyone in Boston loved Kennedy so much; he lost a lot of blue collar support, she said.

From the six-deep line of people on the streets as the hearse went by, we couldn't imagine that there was a Bostonian anywhere around that didn't consider Teddy Kennedy a favorite son.