Home again

Ok, Ok Ed I am back. It will likely be brief because I am exhausted.
That is not a promise though because….well I like to talk or write or blab on and on so here goes….

So I got to spend a week in the Washington DC area and it was great. It was an interesting adventure for me and I am pretty impressed with myself! I would like to post pictures and actually tried to while I was there but have not been able to master how to do it on the iphone and that’s where all my photos are living right now. I am working on it- or to be honest I am getting Donald to work on it now because I have given up.

So anyways it was pretty great. My flight over was fairly uneventful except that it was freakishly early in the morning and my connecting flight was way too close. I had to run through the airport and if my flight had not been delayed due to the pilot’s seat having some issue I would have missed my connection. So I flew in and Shirley –an Officer at National Headquarters picked me up. We headed straight for Mt. Vernon which is only about 15 minutes from the airport. The grounds and all of the tourist stuff were already closed but the restaurant was still open so we headed in for peanut cashew soup. I have learned that I am not a big fan of peanut soup. The first few bites were nice and then it was a chore to get through it. I felt bad because that’s why we went there and it is all we had to eat. So I did not want to make my host feel awkward so I gave it my best effort. However I could not finish my bowl- perhaps had I not just gotten off of a long flight and been feeling a little queasy I could have pressed on and finished.

The next morning we left her apartment at 6:30am and she dropped me off at the Metro station. This was quite intimidating as I have not done much public transportation. With help from a Metro worker- (which apparently is quite a miracle) I figured which train to get on, got my ticket and started on my big adventure. I got into the city by 7:15am. Not much going on in the way of tourist stuff at that time of day but I forged on and walked the National Mall. It was a bit nippy- 16 degrees and a slight wind so I walked a bit faster in an attempt to stay warmer. I mostly saw a TON of porta-potties. I mean seriously I never imagined there were so many in the whole country as that!

It was inspiring to see all the history and architecture. I spent quite a bit of time in the Capitol building as it was open and I had to strip off 5 layers of clothes and my boots just to get through security and thought I should make it worth my while. –No I was not strip searched I just had on that many outer layers to keep from freezing. Plus it was nice and warm in there oh and it was free.

The next day I did pretty much the same thing. I mostly walked around the city as it was such a hassle to shed all the layers to go through security at all the historic places. Spent a large chunk of my day at the war memorials, I was moved to tears at each of them and the thought of the sacrifices our veterans made to ensure our freedom. It was pretty overwhelming to me and I really felt compelled to just hang around each memorial and contemplate the men and women who went before. My Papa served in Korea so I spent an especially long time at that memorial. I really miss him and so wish I would have known how special he was and spent more time with him while he was still alive. One of the very few regrets I have in my life.

The next two days I was a part of a commission that was called together to strategize about how The Salvation Army can be more effective at winning children for Christ. I am still not sure how I got selected but hey I am glad I was. There were 12 of us representing the 6 territories. All were officers except me and another guy who was a DHQ employee. It was actually quite good it is not officially over as we have a series of homework assignments to complete before we submit our findings. It was refreshing to find that I was in a room of like minded people who are tired of the army creating more programs and agreed that we needed systemic change.

Directly after my last meeting I headed to the airport for the long flight home. Had a good opportunity to visit with our TYS as we waited for flights. So on my final connection I had a very interesting flight attendant that I am fairly certain was a shemale. Which is not all that unusual but she/he was very friendly with the man in front of me. I mean very friendly it was actually a bit disturbing. The lady next to me was hilarious she was a bit vocal- under her breath about the scene in front of us. Lets just say it was pretty clear that the passenger was not going home alone. So that was….. a new experience for me. I really tried to avert my eyes and for the most part did, but when it is right there no matter how hard you pretend it aint there you can’t really miss it.

Finally made it home it was amazing to see Donald and the boys. Pretty much went straight to bed as it was after midnight when I flew in and had somewhat adjusted to East Coast time which is 3 hours later. So I was exhausted.

So that is the trip. Condensed. I must go to bed now hope to catch up on the other interesting things that have happened since arriving home… like the windstorm that blew a huge tree down in our backyard and stripped a1/3 of our brand new roof off! But for now I am exhausted.