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My wife Doreen told me this weekend that she had decided what she wanted for Mothers' Day. I was quite surprised to hear her request:
In the spirit of social activism, non-violent protest and family values, Doreen asked that our family fly to Washington, D.C. to participate in a Mother's Day event called the Million Mom March. Quoting from their mission statement:
"Million Mom March Mothers' Day 2000 is dedicated to the mission of educating our children and our country about the life-threatening danger of guns."
So off we went to Washington for the weekend. On day one of the visit, we tooled around Annapolis, Maryland for a bit, which was nice. As you can see below, Alexandra lost a heated battle with a bowl of chocolate ice cream, while her little sister Sarah was frustrated in her efforts to acquire one of her own!
When we drove back to Falls Church, we went through DC and decided to stop at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. It was a worthwhile trip. We were honored to introduce Max and Sam to this most somber and non-patriotic of memorials. They were completely in awe of its beauty, and of the little scenes that were playing out at the wall. We took a few photographs, but they couldn't do justice to the spectre of that place.
We also stopped to take a "before" picture of the mall the day before the Million Mom March began.
Bright and early Sunday morning, Doreen and I, along with Max and Sam, boarded the Washington Metro with my brother Dan, his wife Kim, and their daughters Alex and Sarah. We came out from the underground at the the Nation's Capitol to an amazing scene. There were people everywhere! The estimates at the site (I suspect less accurate than enthusiastic) were that approximately 750,000 people came to the Mall. It was a beautiful day in DC, which clearly helped the attendance.
But it was much more than a sunny day at the Capitol Mall. We walked around a bit, then camped out in the center of everything and listened to a few of the speeches and entertainers. Most of all, we soaked up the energy and shared smiles (some of them very painful) with all the people around us. We saw and met people from every corner of the United States, of all walks of life. Happily, many of them were there (as we were) with children and grandchildren in tow.
Together with our children and our family, we were treated to a spectacle that will (hopefully) stay with us for the rest of our lives.
As for all of you out there (many of you my favorite mothers!), I wish you a peaceful and happy Mothers' Day, and look forward to sharing more stories and photographs from our memorable weekend.
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