I moved to DC over Memorial Day weekend in 1993. My first home was Thompson-Markward Hall, a Young Women's Christian Home, located directly across the street from the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill.My first DC Experience was the National Memorial Day Concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol and I attended with other women from the house. I remember Nana watched it on TV and looked for me in the crowd. With 50,000 people (or whatever there were), she obviously didn't see me.
That began a tradition. I attended almost every National Memorial Day Concert and the 4th of July Concert and Fireworks. Nana watched it every year looking for me in the crowd. Spending such a wonderful day on the steps of our Capitol, with all of Washington at my footsteps was never lost on me. In the 7 years I lived in DC, I never lost that sense of awe that I daily walked in the footsteps of our Founding Fathers.Eight years later, I will once again watch the concert on PBS on Sunday night, wishing Nana was watching too. And I will be sad for a moment that I'm not still in DC. But I'll only be sad for a moment. And that sense of awe will still be with me.
My one and only summer that I got to spend in DC, my brother, his then girlfriend and I went down to the Mall for the fireworks on July 4th. It really was a great time, but the crowds are also just horrendous.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, the crowds are unbeliebable.
ReplyDeleteThat first summer, because I lived on Capitol Hill, I was 5 minutes walking time from Thompson-Markward Hall.
In October 1993, I moved to 13th and Massachusetts NW and was still walking distance from the Mall.
I moved to Alexandria, Virginia in the summer of 1995 and then spending the holidays on the Mall became more of a challenge because of transportation, but it was still more than worth the hassle.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the fireworks on the Mall.