The Back Roads Tour of Arlington

After the others had hit their limit, Grace and I continued to explore on our own. We walked up to Arlington house (Robert E. Lee’s house) and saw the beautiful view of the capital from there. Parts of Arlington Cemetery have very unique headstones in every shape and size imaginable. We thought the very large ones were surely important people we would know, but found they were important people (commanders of the Army and such), just not people we knew. In contrast, JFK’s grave is very simple—a white cross with a very simple head stone. One headstone caught our eyes with the words, “Blessed are those who hear the Word and follow it’s commands.” So many husbands, daddies, brothers, sons are buried there. We stressed to the children the cost of freedom, something difficult for them to grasp. It’s not as though Matt and I have any better grasp of it though, as we have not lost someone close to us through war.

After leaving Arlington, we drove through the capital as Dianne navigated for Matt and I sat in the back listening to the following conversation repeated no less the half a dozen times, “Lydia be quiet, I’m trying to ask mommy a question.” “No Liz. Stop talking. Washing DC, Momma. Washing DC.”--Mel