The Return of the Blob….uhhm, Blog.

Wow.  Nearly 3 months?  How very disappointing.  It’s hard to believe that it has been almost 3 months since the last time I put fingers to the keyboard for the blogosphere.  What’s more, reading back to the last post I made, I realized that I made some promise about completing the inaugural trip rundown.  Yeah, well, that’s not going to happen today.  Somewhere down the road perhaps, I still have my journal and it’s easily transcribed, but not today.

The last 3 months has been a marathon.  And, it would be really easy for me to sit and here and provide all the excuses necessary to justify a three month absence from writing.  Like for instance I could just say that : Christian is playing baseball, he’s in the Honor Band, he’s in a small group, he’s on the junior varsity quiz bowl team.  Conner is playing football.  Jake is playing baseball.  All of these events require time after school, usually in the evening.  Or I could say that I’m playing softball.  Or I could say that Heather and I have a small group as well as other events during the week related to work, as well as her new job and the time requirements for that. 

All that stuff takes its toll for sure.  But that would be a cop out, because I still make time to watch “Deadliest Catch” or “Lost” every week.  I still find time to read every night.  So, what would be that underlying reason I haven’t been writing.

I could say it was work.  I just finished a colossal project (LIVE DVD) that took up so much of my time, and other people’s as well.  I got so heavily involved in that project, almost  dependent on it’s existence to justify my own for a while.  As a good friend relayed to me in song..i was trying so hard to make everything about that project right that I was “unbearably empty” inside, because I had poured it all into that.  It consumed me to a significant degree.  And now 2 weeks finished, I’m starting to surface again.  Every ounce of my creative instinct went into that project, and now that it’s over I look around and see the damage that it caused.  Fractured friendships, bruised relationships.  When you are hip deep in it, you can’t imagine you are causing that.  You try to figure out what’s wrong with everyone else, why can’t they understand what I’m trying to do. And when all they’re trying to do is offer support, all I’m trying to do is tell them they I don’t need it.  Which I most obviously did.  So, now I have to go about repairing those relationships.

But that wasn’t entirely it, although it may have been one of the causes.  I still could’ve written, I wrote other things during that time.  I even thought about it a lot.  I think part of me was afraid of the vitriolic way I would’ve communicated anything via blog in these past 3 months.  My attitude was poor, my writing probably would’ve have been more so.  My demeanor was angry, my writing probably would’ve been more so.  And while I’m at work, I have the bonus of being able to shut my door when I’m mad, this blog provides that open forum to “say what I need to say”, which for all of its upside, has tremendous downside as well.  Those things didn’t need to be said, because they probably weren’t all true.  And maybe, just maybe, it was my subconscious safety that was fully engaged that prevented me from digging the proverbial hole any deeper for myself.

So for all the people reading this, if there are any left, the Matthew that you saw or talked to for the past few months was clearly someone else.  And if he managed to anger you, disappoint, or confuse you in anyway know, that I am sorry for that and hope you will give me the opportunity to make it up to you.

And now I’m back, and I will make every attempt to update this venue with regularity and hopefully some small sliver of wisdom that I may have.  For the audience that I have, thanks for coming back.

Blog Suspended Until Tomorrow

Due to the fact that we arrived late tonight and have an early morning, I will be holding off writing about Day 5 and 6 until friday afternoon.
I appreciate everyone checking up, and I hope you all come back on Friday for the conclusion. Good night.

Washington D.C. Trip : Day Four

Tuesday January 20th 11:47pm :

History was made today.  Simple as that.  My grandchildren will read about today in their history books, and I was there to witness it.  

Today started practically before the last one ended.  We were out of our hotel room door at 3:45 and headed towards D.C. by 410am.  All roads in and out of D.C. were closed except for bus traffic, so it was surreal driving thru the nation’s capitol when it looks like it had been abandoned.  After we parked we had to find the subway that would take us to the National Mall.  Our guide knew that some of the stations would be closed, but they never posted the official list of closures so it had always been hit or miss.  3 misses and 1 hit.

We were pleasantly surprised and a little apprehensive when the subway arrived at our stop with empty cars.  We had been expecting record crowds and this was either a good sign for our travels during the day or an ominous sign of things to come.  It turned out to be the latter.  When we exited the subway we were smack in the middle of one of the densest assemblages of humans I had ever witnessed.  The platform had people going in 2 distinct directions to get out.  We meandered along the line and listened to the disembodied voice repeat over and over again, “do not hesitate at the turnstiles, have your ticket ready, move, move, MOVE people.  This is not social hour.”

And it only got worse.

We got in line for what we thought was the silver gate.  That was the gate we had tickets for.  It was cold this morning (12 degrees when we left) and we just huddled with the masses in front of the gate.  Some police cars were attempting to get thru the throngs of people and in the mayhem our group was separated.  Christian held on to me for dear life as he was pushed and bounced around.  His only benefit was that once we were within the throngs of people he just disappeared and was able to receive his full complement of body heat.

As it turned out that was not the entrance to our gate, and as first light came out we saw the REAL line on the other side of the street.  As it would happen, that line stretched back over 14 blocks.  We crossed and cut in the line (sorry) at about the 6 block mark.  Around this time, our group had been split and we really had no way to get a hold of them as cell phone coverage had been spotty. Just our luck…the rest of the group merged right next to us as they had cut in on the other side.  A brief security check and we had staked our claim in the silver section.  It was 9:00am.  The inauguration started at 12.  So we became expert timekillers.  The tour guide, Jeff, and I, tried to keep the kids entertained at least, so we decided that we would yell at everything that came on the JumboTron, just to get people to yell.  Success.  ”OOOOOOOOHHHHH, HELICOPTER”, or “OOOOOOOOOPRAH”.  Also, we tried to make it a point to get into all the pictures that we could, so whenever we noticed someone behind us ready to snap a few we would make ourselves large and get in the shots.

All of this tomfoolery managed to keep the kids occupied until something happened on the stage.

The festivities were great.  Although I was there for one reason, and one reason only.  To witness the swearing  in of Barack Obama.

Quick rating guide (according to the 1.4 million people on the National Mall)

George Bush : Nothing but boos

Dick Cheney : Nothing but even louder boos

Jimmy Carter : Nice applause

Bill and Hillary Clinton : Huge applause and screams

Rick Warren : Good reaction…although he was the only speaker that I saw have anything protested today.  When he started his prayer 2 women turned around and help 2 pink flags over their head til he was done.  I’m guessing a little, but I believe that that is their silent protest to Rick’s stand on gay rights.

John McCain : Nothing, no sound at all…couldve heard the crickets.

Barack Obama : Wild sustained passionate applause.

And he was amazing.  His speech has challenged me, and my generation to look forward with great responsibility. To remake America into the land of promise and opportunity.  Emotions whip up in you as you swell with pride to be part of such a moment.  And it was over…like that.

Christian and I were exhausted at that point, but we knew we had one solid chance of making the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum so we went for it.  It was cool, but i’ll have to go back for sure.  It was being used as a hotel from the looks of it.  He and I had trouble getting to a lot of the exhibits because people were sleeping everywhere.  By this point, he and I had been standing up for 12 hours while never sitting down once.  We were GASSED.  

We met up with the rest of the group and after much discussion, some of it heated, it was decided to forgo our eveing excursion due to to the size of crowds.  The only catch was a 4 mile hike to bus because, as I mentiioned before, most of the roads were closed.  I looked at Christian and he looked worried, but he toughed it out.

Added bonus .. saw Obama on the parade route by luck, walking the streets.  That’s classy.

So i sit here now with another early morning and full day out to come with trips to the Capitol and Arlington National Cemetary .. and I can’t wait.

To be continued…..

The inauguration platform

 

We were closer than what it seems

Lindbergh's ride across the Atlantic

 

Christian at the Washington Monument

Washington D.C. Trip : Day Three

Monday January 19th  1115pm :

Finally….now this is what I had expected this trip to be from the get go. Busy and hectic and chaotic from the beginning of the day til now.

We were up again at 615.  I say “up”, but that label really applies more to Christian than to me.  For me sleep was sporadic or non-existent.  But, I can sleep when I get home, right?  This morning we had a great breakfast (finally) and we made our way to D.C. by about 8am.

Two words for you: Vietnam Memorial.

Nothing, and I mean nothing prepares you for it.  I’ve seen it countless times in movies, and in books.  It always seemed impressive, but I never really understood the scope of what it means to me.  Heading there, I tried to kind of mentally prepare for it.  Should I be sad?  I mean, I don’t know that I have ever known anyone that lost someone there.  I had no personal connection to it.  The war ended when I was 2, so I had very little connection to any of it.  In a lot of the pictures there are people weeping.  For loved ones I assumed.  Now I assume that I was only partially right.  As Christian and I approached the wall, I noticed my self getting drawn in to the gravity of the wall.  I also noticed myself getting annoyed with people who thought that “good photo op” of the Vietnam Memorial means smiling in front of it.  There was nothing to smile about there.  Christian and I approached the wall and reached out and touched it.  I started to talk to him, and noticed that I was choking back tears.  It was when I tried to relay to him that every name on that wall, all 58,000 of them, had families at home waiting for them, praying for them.  They all had hopes and dreams, and for many of them, the only hope and dream they had was the dream of coming home.  So much unrealized.  And I was weeping.  Christian asked if I was OK, and I couldn’t really explain it. 

Try to relate it to now.  Soldiers fighting an unpopular war coming home and getting spat on at the airport.  Shunned in every facet of society.  These were kids, and it wasn’t their politics to begin with.  Now, everyone supports the troops.  In fact, it’s considered unpatriotic to not support them.  I’m of the mind that I support them SO much, that I would like for them to all come home alive.  If we had only given the Vietnam vets that support, what would the 70’s really have turned out like.

I could have stayed there for hours, and as we moved to the other war memorials, I found myself looking back at the black granite slab.  I will never forget today and what it means to be FREE and an american.  I hope Christian remembers it as well.

We proceeded to the Korean, World War I and II memorials lining the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  They each were powerful in their way, but they seemed odd to me.  Man, there is just something about all of those names that resonates.

I did manage to have great success in the Passport stamp collecting arena today.  I actually got 6 of them from all of the historic parks and memorials on the Mall.  In fact, I got the special Inauguration cancellation from the FDR memorial, courtesy of Christian’s Quiz Bowl coach, Ms. Welch.  She saw that I had my book out and she got very excited.  She was like “you’re the first parent that has EVER had that book and this is my 4th inauguration.”  And she led me to where the special stamp was.  Very cool.

From there we headed out to Mount Vernon, which I had had mixed feelings about since spotting in on the itinerary.  I shouldn’t have.  It was AWESOME.  Completely restored, but still using the original structures (awesome), George Washington’s estate is expansive.  The park is about 200 acres on what originally was a 8300 acre plot.  And very few details were left out.  Highlight for me was the Museum that houses a lot of artifacts from Washington’s collection.  Gifts from heads of state, swords, muskets, paintings … just really fascinating stuff.  Christian and I also walked out to Washington’s tomb.  That one also got to me a little.  Maybe I’m getting a little overwhelmed but it really is feeding that side of me that devours these history lessons.

Finally made a souvenier purchase today.  At Mount Vernon, and I hope I can explain it like it sounds it my head, I bought an American Flag that had been flown over the grounds on that day, Martin Luther King Day.  So, I got a flag that flew over the first President’s house on the day that we celebrate a great African American leader, the day before we swear into office the first African American President.  I think that’s pretty cool.

Our day ended the same way it began, chaotically.  We went to the Union Station train terminal for dinner.  Oh my gosh. Everyone that is coming into town may be arriving by rail.  I can only equate it by saying, think of NYC any day and that was it.  It was a great experience for the kids as you saw their eyes boggle at the sheer magnitude.

Tomorrow is IT!  We are leaving at 4am.  Look for us on TV.  We’ll be sitting right behind the first bit of water you see.  Couple hundred feet from the stage. Can’t wait!!

To be continued…

Vietnam Memorial

Christian. Washington Monument. Capitol.

 

Exactly.

 

Mount Vernon

Washington D.C. Trip : Day Two

Sunday January 18th 12:45 pm :

Got up at 630 this morning after limited amounts of sleep.  I was super restless and a little bit sore.  I’m sure that has more to do with the cold than the lack of physical activity.  Had a fairly decent breakfast (eggs were runny) and we were on the road by 845, bound for Jamestown.  

We had another great tour guide, Gloria. She knew so much of the history, which I guess you would expect from a tour guide, but she was able to respond eloquently and intelligently to every question the kids had, no matter how mundane.  

First thing I saw walking up to the Visitors center were these HUGE flocks of cardinals and blue jays.  My mom would have gone nuts.  There must have been 100-150 blue jays sqwaking and at least as many cardinals.  First glance of the facility gives you the impression that there was a TON of money poured into  the museum.  Unfortunately it is about a mile and a half from the ACTUAL site of Jamestown.  

That part has always bugged me.  I mean, I understand the fragility of the site, but I would’ve loved to see the REAL structures instead of re-creations.  It kind of reminds me of Fort Mackinac (for my Michigan peeps), but at least they used parts of the real buildings in the reconstructions. I know, i know…what a complainer, right.

As we were walking thru the museum I noted something interesting.  On one of the informational signs there was a Powhatan (tribe native to this area) word…it said “Oke”. The translation read “evil spirit”.  Hmm, interesting.

Got to see a musket firing, and again for my Michigan people, this is nothing new.

Had a decent sandwich at lunch time.  Christian had pizza, again.  Blech.  He seems to be having a great time.  He’s so intense and his questions for the guides are so complete that sometimes it’s hard to tell if he’s having fun.  But then he’ll look over at me and flash his toothy grin, and I understand, he’s just really trying to absorb everything that he can.

SUCCESS.  Got my first National Park passport stamp on this trip after much searching.  (see my grand canyon post from july for more info on that)  Nice. We’re headed back to D.C. now.  The guide is obviously settling into a comfort zone with us as he explained to us about the first tribe in Jamestown had to walk several miles to get to the nearest Wal Mart.  Sometimes it was an all day trip.  : )   Beautiful.

Sunday January 18th  1100pm :

The bus ride back to D.C. was exhausting.  As you may have read, 2 million people are descending upon the Capitol for this historic inauguration.  And I think they all arrived today.  We had plans to go to the Iwo Jima memorial today but because of the concert near there, we had to change plans.  We finally got off the bus at about 6pm, after a 5 hour trip (it was scheduled for 3).  The city is absolute chaos, but that thought soon faded away as we crossed over the hill and saw the White House for the first time.  We were quite the distance away, but it looks so stately at night.  As a matter of fact, the whole city looks regal at night.  The Capitol building, the Washington monument, look so cool under floodlight.  That’s all we really saw tonight.  We had another cafeteria style dinner, but it was in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum which was cool.  Just walking around in the evening was amazing.  All of the buildings are so big.  You get a completely different sense of government when you look around.  You realize the scope and the breadth of everything as the size of the buildings engulf you.  

Our night finished with a walk to the Mall where the inauguration will be held on Tuesday.  It was completely empty except for some news reporters.  It’s truly invigorating to stand on that empty place and imagine 2 million people there in 2 days celebrating the ability to choose our own leaders.  It’s such an honor to be here…I feel truly blessed.

Tomorrow is our monument day.  Lots of war memorials and presidential memorials, so probably some emotion too.  We are also going to Mt Vernon in the afternoon, looking forward to that.  

To be continued.

 

1 of 3 boats used by Jamestown settlers .. the Susan Constant

 

Christian in Powhatan cypress canoe

 

The White House ... by night

Christian and the Capitol...by night

Washington D.C. : Day One

The following will be a comprehensive detailing of Christian and my trip to Washington D.C. for the presidential inauguration.  If you don’t like to get bogged down in what seems like tedious meanderings, then skip to the pictures.

Friday January 16th 8:00 pm PST :

Christian and I arrived at Mccarran Airport via the Szczepanski taxi at approximately 6:10pm and was surprised to see only a few of our tour companions there.  We were pleased to learn that we didn’t have to wait for everyone else to arrive to clear security (that had been the original plan).  We then posted the fastest trip thru security on record for us.  Efficiency breeds relaxation in me when I travel so I couldn’t have been more pleased than to be sitting down at the gate at 635pm.  I checked my email while Christian read until about 730pm.  Neither one of us had had dinner yet so we figured now was the time.  What we found was an airport devoid of open restaurants.  Fast food, sit down, snack shops…they were all closed.  On a FRIDAY night, in Las Vegas.  Economy or just bad planning?  We found a Pizza Hut open at the far opposite end of terminal D.  The pizza was old and cold and nasty but it was something.  Christian was complaining about walking already but by the time we got back to our gate his mood had improved when he saw one of his teachers there.

Saturday January 17th 5:00am EST:

Arrived at JFK in New York City after a looooong flight with only occasional dozing.  The flight attendants were definitely from New York City as they were mostly unpleasant and constantly reminding us to keep the floors of rows free of bags and not to put our winter coats in the overhead compartments.  Geez.  How annoying.  Christian got some good rest after about 45 minutes of fidgeting around.  He woke up on the descent and had some difficulty with his ears (actually several of the kids did). I got a total of 15 minutes of sleep as I was completely mesmerized by the inflight map of the plane’s progress. (It’s the simple things that make me smile.)  After we deplaned, Christian has some Lucky Charms and it perked him up a little.  Most of the kids seem exhausted already .. long way to go before we call it a day…it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Saturday January 17th 1015am EST :

On the bus to Williamsburg.  The flight from NYC was good.  Dulles airport has this really cool yet outdated tram system with these makeshift buses and hydraulic lifts. Very cool. The luggage and bus load went, like most things so far, surprisingly well.  It is COLD outside.  2 degrees with 15 below wind chills.  I don’t miss this at ALL.  Blech.  As we drove, I noticed a flock of pigeons on a electrical wire with their heads buried in their feathers.  Our tour guide, Jeff, seems alright. I’m waiting for those historical nuggets that I crave.  Maybe later.

Oh crap.  I knew it was too good to be true.  We just pulled into Williamsburg and the bus just died.  It stalled, they restarted it, and now they can’t get it out of park.  Hmm, I guess we’ll grab some lunch and see where the day takes us.  Everybody headed over to subway, I didn’t feel like waiting 45 minutes to eat so I sought out a little mom and pop sub shop.  Had a great philly steak and cheese and some nice small town small talk.

Got back to the bus and it’s dead.  They have to call for a replacement but that will take hours.  We are going to walk to the entrance to Colonial Williamsburg Park, I hear it’s only about a mile and a half.  

Ugh. It’s so COLD.  The walk was beautiful though.  Got to see the campus of the College of William and Mary.  It’s got that Harvard and Yale type of look, although not as ivy-covered.  Very quaint.

Finally got to the park and it was totally worth the cold.  So much history and things to learn.  I always get disappointed that I can’t experience everything that these parks have to offer.  I could spend a week at each one.  Some other time I guess.  Our guide on the tour was named Asa, and he was fantastic.  Only about 25 years old but born and raised in this area and so knowledgable.  He immediately captured the kid’s attention and mine too as he related the stories behind expressions like “flipped your wig”, “put your best foot forward”, “saved by the bell” and others.  He had the kids all abuzz with ghost stories about the area.  Great experience with the smiths, the coopers and the ladies of the loom.  I absolutely eat this stuff up and we totally forgot about the cold for a while.

Our replacement bus arrived promptly at the end of our tour to take us to dinner.  A less than adequate meal of mostachiolli, salad, and garlic knots.  But at that point I didnt care.  It was food.  We got to our hotel where our first bus had been towed so we could pull all the baggage off of it.  Then a long shower and now sitting on the bed writing this.

All in all, a typically challenging and adventurous first day.  Exhausted, but invigorated.

To be continued…

 

Landed in D.C.

 

Thomas Jefferson's Church

 

Let's lock up all the kids like this!!

Coming Attractions

Recently there has been a shortage of posts to my blog.  I think that I am saving it up for the end of this month.

Christian and I leave this Friday to attend the Presidential Inauguration and all of my writing energy seems to be focused on that event.  Neither one of us has even been to D.C., and we are both so excited about not only the opportunity to visit, but also the historical significance of this event.  I will be posting as often as I can while we’re there, usually from the hotel room after our adventures.  So stay tuned…..