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Health & Fitness

Aging with Passion

A summer trip to Washington D.C. taught me the grace of living your life with passion.

My family took a trip to Washington D.C. this past summer.  

We had four days set aside to spend in our nation’s capital and we were determined to see as much as we could.  To make the most of this trip, I contacted the office of our State Representative (at the time: we’ve recently been rezoned), Judy Biggert.  

-Warning,Plug Alert- Thank you Judy Biggert’s staff, for making this last minute request work for us! We only had a month to plan this vacation and you made it work!
If you’re going to DC, make the call to your Congressional Representative or Senator to request tours, it’s worth the effort. The three tours that they arranged for us were the highlights of our trip and they came complete with tour guides. A word to the wise, however, these tours usually require at least a six month advance time as they are at no cost and, therefore, have limited space.  -Now back to your regularly scheduled blog-

We toured the Capital building, the White House and the Library of Congress. Though all of these tours were impressive, the Library of Congress is the one that we enjoyed the most.

For those of you that have not seen the Library of Congress, it is truly an awe inspiring building. The walls and ceilings are just covered with original artwork and quotations from all of the greatest minds throughout history. The detailed mosaics on the floors and the carvings that sweeped the sides of the staircases were definitely of a time gone by.  I have labored over how to describe the sight that greeted us as we walked through this monument, but resigned myself to the fact that some things are beyond words.  You really do just have to see it for yourself. Needless to say, you could spend hours viewing the building, return for a second trip and you would still find things you hadn’t seen during your first visit. There is that much to appreciate.

Our tour began with entry into the viewing area overlooking the actual library and all of those magnificent shelves of books.  The viewing area was walled off by a huge plate glass wall through which the public could view the actual library. My husband and I were fortunate to have come back in the 1980s and 90s, so we remembered how awestruck we were to actually walk into the reading area. Now that the freedom to walk into the book section is gone, we couldn’t help but feel a little saddened at the state of affairs that made such a change necessary. For the hardcore bibliophiles out there, the impressive layout of the library will just beckon you to pull up a chair at the HUGE inviting desk space and spend a day in those stacks. I wanted to pack my lunch, corner a desk and just read till they kicked my butt out!

Though we appreciated the art and architecture of the building itself, a large part of the credit for the enjoyment of this tour, lies with our docent.

Though sadly none of us can remember her name, I know that neither I nor my family will forget her any time soon.

She gave these tours “...just because she was a history lover.”  

She reminded each of us of that favorite, warm and fuzzy teacher we’d all had at some point in our educational careers. She was an inspiring example of how to live gracefully in your senior years. She was smartly dressed and impeccably groomed. She carried herself with confidence and had that warm smile that invited you to trust her as she gathered our small group together to begin the tour.  

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So what made this tour so enjoyable for us?  

We have dissected this from four perspectives and concluded that though the building was phenomenal and the art work was impressive, it was the enthusiasm of our docent that really inspired us.

She wasn’t getting paid to do this. There was no hope of promotion or greater reward for doing a good job. Her only reward came from liking what she did and sharing it with others. Because of that love, she came prepared with tools (she carried a laser pointer to clearly point out that which she wanted us to note) and she animated her knowledge with interesting, humorous comments.  

She was definitely not a boring, bookish recording of facts. The facts she shared with us all had a little touch of personal wit.

For example, here’s how she shared with us the fact that the library carries 147 million items and, in her view, holds the largest collection in the world (despite the fact that the “Brits”, as she called them, continue to insist that their library is larger).

“….but they count stamps! Can you imagine?! Of course, my response to the British is that our library would be larger had they not burned our capital in 1814 destroying over 3,000 books! Pooh on the British!” (paraphrased)

Another great moment came when we were getting close to closing time and she became concerned. She glanced at her watch, a mild expression of worry clouded her face and she began to walk faster as she excitedly said to our group…

“Oh, my! I don’t usually stray from the tour sequence, but it is getting late and I would absolutely never forgive myself if I sent you home without having shown you these two fascinating sections of the Library.” (Now, let me paint this one for you. Here we are a group of people practically running after this woman when we’re not even sure why we are running!)

“So, let’s come along everyone," sahe said. "Follow me and we will just make it into these galleries before they close the doors for the day. That’s right. Just follow me but walk briskly, please. Now walk carefully as we don’t want anyone to fall, but we simply must get through these doors before they close them.”

“You absolutely must see the first map to ever document the existence of the United States and we are privileged to be in this building when they have the contents of the Jefferson Library on display.”

The hysterical thing to me was that everyone was just as excited as she was to make it through those doors before the guards closed them behind us! Everyone! Now I’ve been a history lover long enough to know that very few people are actually excited about history! There was another element creating that excitement.

For our little family, we felt the excitement. My husband was thrilled to see this map that had been squirreled away in someone’s attic and rediscovered during this last century. My kids and I were excited to be able to view the Jefferson Library. They only display this literary gem for short periods of time to insure its preservation. But to see everyone else scurry on ahead as if they couldn’t wait to view what glory lay behind those doors, is truly a credit to our tour guide’s genuine excitement (or their desire to not get lost in this building!).

That was what made the tour so memorable: her excitement.

She just wanted to share the wonder that she had for this historical building with everyone.

Afterwards, my kids approached her, and my husband and I and a few stragglers from our group, listened in as they told her how much they enjoyed the tour. They asked her how she came to know so much about the Library, was she a history teacher? A historical writer?

Her response inspired us all to never stop pursuing our passions.

“No, no. I’m just a D.C. housewife with a passion for history,” she said.

You go girl!

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