In Washington

The Lincoln Memorial is easily my favorite place in Washington DC. Easily in my Top 10 Favorite Places on the planet. I try to make a pilgrimage every time I am in town. I read the Gettysburg Address and remember that there are still some things that are sacred.

I walked down from the hotel Wednesday night. It is about two miles. I am listening to the iPod and the weather is nice and I am very happy. I get to the steps:

It was swarming with children.

Taking the pictures and yammering or sitting 25 across on the stairs so that the actual people trying to pay their respects are tripping over their Chucks.

I was feeling cranky for a minute, but then I remembered that that 8th grade field trip was the reason that I went to college in Washington DC. I remembered that while I was one of those kids that wouldn't shut up and snapped a million pictures of nothing, I still made the Lincoln Memorial pilgrimage the very first weekend after I arrived at AU.

Never mind that it was 2am and I was drunk. I had never been there at night!

My point is that I walked back down the steps thinking that the place was so powerful that it seeps into even a 13-year old by osmosis and we are all better people for it. I hope the remember, too.