We didn't get lost this time

So far this week, I created, delivered or prepared to deliver four presentations as well as directed my employees in three more. My guys are really coming along but I have been lazy each night I get home and haven't been blogging.

I promised you the story about not getting lost in DC. That memory stands out because it only happened the one time.

First, you have to remember this was pre-Oklahoma City, pre-911...heck this was even pre-John Hinkley. OK, Squeaky Fromme was in prison by this time but that was it. So when I tell you tooling around DC was not anything like you would experience today, you've got to believe me. We must have driven past the White House a dozen times without noticing it. It was just sitting there like any old house in the neighborhood. When we finally saw it, I swear Billy and his hound were hanging out on the portico with a tall cold one while Momma Carter hung out a load of delicates. But that was the last day of our trip, this day was the night before the march. And we had plans.

I told you that HRH was unaware of my spatial impairment and you should know, she was not terribly understanding about it. By the time she found that I not only didn't know north from south but also didn't know left from right, she told me to quit talking to her in the car. I think her actual words were "Quit finding me after I'm not lost any more." It isn't like we had Google Maps or a GPS device.

It was road maps and tourist pamphlets.  And even so, this night she drove straight to the Mall and even found a parking place right across from the Washington Monument. And just as we climbed the hill, HRH looked at me and said..."The camera!" Oh my goodness, we left the camera at the motel. She hadn't taken a single wrong turn to get to the monument and now we had to reverse direction and repeat the process before we could see DC by twilight on the only night we had left before the march.

HRH twisted a bit and turned slightly but she got us back and in line for our last night of sight-seeing and it was everything they promised. I have been back several times but nothing matched that night for the camaraderie and excitement. My strongest memory is of Kenneth. He was a 2-year old Korean toddling tourist. As we all sat around the benches at the base of the white obelisk Kenneth kept us all entertained.

In later years, the tour guides would tell us about what we could see as we peered out those angled windows. When CaDiva and I went back a few years ago, we even saw the eternal flame in the distant twilight. That night, HRH and I stood at one window and then another one and just let the view bedazzle us. I hopefully will be able to find those pictures and scan them for you. But I can tell you this, if they can repair it and you get a chance to go up to the top of the monument, go at twilight. There is no view like it in the world.

When the weekend gets quiet I'll tell you about losing the rental car.