SHARE A MEMORY

Words cannot express what I see.

       History

        Beauty

           Intentionality

              AWE!

Each time we enter the BIG city . . . Washington D.C. . . . I am struck by something new. 

 I have been here so many times that I take for granted the magnificent structures that stand before us.

          Gleaming white treasures against a perfect, blue sky makes these grand edifices POP in front of us.  

I take note . . . finally . . . now that I am no longer a city dweller.

Now that we live in the countryside,

     Now that we no longer take the transit to work,

          Now that we have been away for awhile . . . 

                  I finally see the beauty before us.

A place of business - our business - the business
of all of us who are citizens of the United States of America.
This is where OUR business takes place.
We study the beauty, the symmetry, and the intentionality
 within this magnificent piece of architecture.

It's hard to see the beautiful mosaics on this old building.
We have had tea up on top ... years ago.
 Awesome!
And next to it is a reminder of a gentler age,
the Victorian era.
 A genteel group was able to live life slowly and embrace the
beauty around them.
 We would have been the 'support' staff.

For as long as I can remember, each time we
are near the Washington Memorial, it is under repair.
We have yet to go inside in how many years?
It's still impressive from several city blocks away.
A single obelisk- standing grandly tall for all to see
from miles away.  

In the middle of a street that
has little else to draw our attention I stop.
This is a new building but the fixtures remind us
of bygone days.
The face of ...a Greek god?...   guarding a golden tipped gate.
 A HUGE lamp inviting us into stories of Cinderella days.
I stop ... linger ... ponder.
My hubby is waiting for me at the end of the block.

This new walk-through cuts our walk in half.
They re-worked this old building for people's
convenience.  The cobbled pathway and the hanging lantern
bring us back to another century.

You have seen this before - other blog notes.
These cobbles belong in the previous picture.
We were so busy watching our step on the uneven pavement
that we had to stop and look around us.
Life is like that.
We get so busy minding our step that we forget to
see where our journey takes us.

No longer can anyone afford to have this stonework that tells a story.
  Pediments like these and Corinthian pillars are a rarity.
It's nice to see it cleaned and well maintained.
 This building is now a student library with the insides 'modernized.'
So sad to see computer stands in the place of mahogany tables.
 Stories woven into tapestries are gone.
  Now blank walls.
I think we forget that beauty around us is conducive to study.

And so we linger and remember the 'good ol' days' and thank God that some wise people invested time, talent and resources to keep those memories alive.
I guess it is up to the rest of us to be intentional as we walk from place to place.
It is up to us to record in our memory the 'beauty points' of our journey.

May we each take a moment to linger and enjoy these places, these moments, given to us by others or taken by us to share with another.
     May we each share a precious memory with others every now and then.