I wanted to teach them

I wanted to teach them

      I love to plan. Sometimes I feel like good planning can make or break me in this crazy life full of children that I love. While planning our trip back east this year, I began thinking about the uproar in our country, the hard economic times, the political turmoil. I began to think about how important it is for my children to understand their role in this country. To understand that this is their country. I saw the possibility of spending a day in Washington DC with my family and began to plan.

     I wanted to stay near the big city the night before, and get up bright and early. I wanted to start the day eager, excited, ready to learn and to teach.  I had a picture in my mind of matching tee shirts, enabling us to stay together.  Of children listening attentively as a presenter spoke about the heroic soldiers who have fought and died for this county.  I imagined looks of awe on little faces as they compared the gigantic statue of
Abraham Lincoln to the picture on the back of a penny.  Delight, as they saw the airplanes in the air and space museum - saying again and again  - "this is just like it was on the movie!"

     Perhaps in my planning, I should learn to leave a little room for reality.   Here was our trip to DC in a nutshell.
We got on the metro pretty early everyone was in a good mood and very excited.  Mom and Dad may have been gasping a little at the cost of metro tickets times 10.

They all seemed to enjoy the metro ride, especially the big one pulling faces in the front.

The bright red shirts worked out well.  It was easy to pair the children up and keep watch on where everyone was.  Thank heavens, none of ours got lost in DC today.  I cannot imagine how to find anyone there.  There was and overwhelming number of people. 

I think that by the time we got off the metro it was 100 degrees.  I had not planned for that at all.  We walked a lot.  The kids all think we walked for a million miles.  Did I mention that the humidity was very high also?  I believe we were all dripping with sweat.

I have never been so glad to see a lawn being watered in my life.  The kids were so very happy to play in it for a few minutes.  It really made the heat bearable for about 1/2 hour.

It was great when kind people stopped staring and counting and offered to take our family picture instead.  More than once, we had a tourist walk buy and aim a camera right at our large group. 

Perhaps we will be famous one day.

We were able to visit the Korean War memorial.  I can't help think of my own brothers and uncles who have served in wars throughout the years.  Of the sacrifices they have made so that we can have the freedoms that we have today.

This was my favorite statue.  Some students near us were talking about how it represented Faith (soldier praying at the far left), Hope (soldier in the back looking up, perhaps for helicopter assistance) and Charity (nurse holding injured soldier).  I tried to help my children understand that we can have all of these attributes at once if we remember them and practice them.

I had a moment of outrage at the signature line on this public vehicle.   Do people in DC really

NOT remember the Boston Tea Party? 

By all that is fair, that tag line should begin with a NO

And this is how our trip to the city of Washington DC ended.  Hot, sweaty, and having walked that proverbial million miles.   Even the air and space museum at the end of the day was lacking luster because we were too tired to enjoy it.  

    My day certainly did not go as planned.  Parts of it worked out well.  Parts of it worked out not so well.  Maybe it would have been good to remember that we got married in DC 20 years ago in June and it was HOT and HUMID!!!

      I know that our children probably did not have a life altering experience today.  They most likely did not have a light bulb go off in their heads as they said "ohhhhhhh, now I get it."

      My hope is that through their lives, they will be able to look back to this very hot, very tiring day.  They will be able to see the sacrifice involved in us bringing them to the nation's capitol.   They will feel the importance of the things they have seen, and know that it is their responsibility, and their right, to be involved.  To be good citizens.  To teach their own children when the time comes.