Standing in the line to see the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights yesterday about 11:30 am, I noticed a family behind us doing the dash and check. They had out their map and the father said, "Okay, okay. Run up and take a look, and then we've got to get over to Lincoln."
Tim stood by my side holding a color copy of a military message sent by carrier pigeon in WWI. It said, "To C.O.306th Infantry From: 1st BN 308th Infantry WE ARE ALONG THE ROAD PARALELL 276.4. OUR AR ILLERY IS DROPPING A BARRAGE DIRECTLY ON US. FOR HEAVENS SAKE STOP IT. WHITTLESAY MAJ 308th."
We had spent the morning digging through the Hollinger boxes in the ReSource Room, exploring patents, photographs, and shreds of history, and finding such treasures as a letter from a 12 year old Fidel Castro to FDR (expressing his love of the USA and asking for a ten dollar bill), Lady Bird Johnson's typed diary entry of a certain day in Dallas (changes annotated in pencil in the new First Lady's own hand), and full sized copies of the charters of freedom (including the hand print on the Declaration). We'd paused at the Magna Carta to admire the king's seal.
After lunch, we were to spend another couple of hours in the Archive's public vaults, and then we were off to Lincoln's Cottage to spend a quiet afternoon in the shadow of the great man himself, not on the crowded steps of his memorial, but in the peaceful cottage he loved best, where he spent a quarter of his presidency! (Side note: I really do love this tour, and you should make time to come here if you find yourself in DC. Its restoration has just been completed, and the tour was wonderful--it brought Lincoln the man to life in all his brilliance, determination, humanity, humor, and pain.)
I was so pleased with myself as we left the visitor's center. How brilliant my strategy was, how masterful my planning! Unlike the other visitors to Washington DC with their long faced, moaning children, I had left the beaten path! My children were reveling in history! Inspired by fabulous art! Fired up by treasures of the past! Appetites whetted by exposure to source materials, they now hungered for the feast of information! This trip, perfectly designed and brilliantly executed, would fuel their future studies and open their tender minds!
Then Alex grabbed my hand and, turning his anguished face to mine, proclaimed that if I forced him to go to one more museum, he would stick his head under the wheel of the car.
Well, we can't all be museum lovers. Or smug mothers who plan the perfect vacation. I think we might go biking today.
5 comments:
Ahhh! Teenagers! They sure know how to burst your bubble! Still - it sounds like you're having a great time and one they won't soon forget (for better or worse).
P.S. - You might think of writing a travelogue/book on your adventures to share with others around the world. You have the gift, Julia!
Variety is the spice of life! As long as it doesn't kill you.
-Mike
I think you were RIGHT when you were smug. You are amazing! I would love the Julia tour! I still cannot believe your children's reaction to the Art. Oh, and tell Tim, we loved the WWI message. We LOVE your posts!!
--Cecily
I know the feeling... one minute you are on cloud nine feeling like the best parent in the world and then, a second later a grumpy face shoots you down.
At first they'll remember the pink Aerobie as the best part but later, all sort of images and ideas will start surfacing and then you'll have a reason to be smug.
Keep on writing as Erin said, you are sharing your adventures around the world...
Eitan Elkin
Israel
Nice story.I hope I get to go visit those places.You have a good way of making your stories sound funny.(I guess with a family like that you have to have that gift)-MIRIAM
Post a Comment