We flew ahead of his co-workers to enjoy the weekend with Dad before he had to arrive at work Monday morning. On Saturday we were thrilled to meet Joe and Sandy at the Air and Space Museum annex. They are such a great couple and so good with my children. (We hadn't seen Joe since last June when he, his dad and step mom fly out to visit us. And we hadn't seen Sandy since 2012.) It was a joy to be there with them seeing the space shuttle Discovery and THE Enola Gay. That plane gave me goosebumps as I thought back to the book Unbroken and what those POWs thought about seeing B-29s flying over Japan. Although atomic weapons are hideous, I can't help but be grateful for all the lives it saved on both sides of that hideous war.
Easter Sunday was extra special for me this year. How grateful I was for the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as I knelt at my uncle's grave at Arlington Cemetery. He was my dad's oldest (half) brother and was his hero. He had served as a teenager at the end of WWII, became a baptist minister and served as a Chaplin in Korea and Vietnam. He died of cancer when I was a little girl, probably induced by exposure to agent orange. His death was very close to my grandmother dying and the double loss was a part of my life growing up. I was taught about how amazing they both were and I never heard either of my parents speak ill of either one of them. I felt it was a privilege to visit him on Easter and ponder on how grateful I am for the power of the Atonement. Chaplin's Hill was so large that it took some time to find Uncle Carnie's grave, but as I neared the right place I could literally feel it like a tingling on my skin. It was one of the most precious moments of the trip for me.
By this day we were grateful to take it easy in the morning while we waited to tour Goddard Space Flight Center at 1pm. I was amazed at how enthusiastically my kids watched PBS. There was a special Nature episode on birds nests they soaked up like sponges and they watched documentaries about the Terra Cotta Warriors and massive German WW2 battle ships. After lunch we met Daddy and one of the NASA engineers for a tour and then took our own sweet time at the visitor's center for the public while Daddy got back to work. And much to our surprise, he came back saying they got everything done he needed to and he would be able to spend the next day with is instead of going back. Hooray! So we had him drive us to the National Zoo and we absolutely loved having him there with us. M got to fulfill her dream to see giant pandas and those creatures were so cute it hurt. What an amazing zoo! And the weather was a little iffy so the lack of crowds was great and nothing our rain coats couldn't handle.
Our last day before an early morning flight (that saved us $700) was spent at Mt. Vernon. None of us had been there before and we LOVED it. I told my spouse I could live there. I think he understood why I fell in love with Virginia back when I visited Williamsburg years ago. There is something for everyone at Mt. Vernon and we stayed until closing and then ate at the tavern. I couldn't help but think as I learned about George Washington that he was a man chosen by God to help form this county based on ideals such as religious freedom. Such ideas were essential is preparing for a restoration of the fullness of the Gospel. And oh, how blessed I feel to live where, when, and how I do.
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