Breathing - the Secret of Life

Original post written about July 21 - 23, 2012

We had a whirlwind weekend, full of family visitors. We had been away from home for 13 days and the Salad very much missed Grammy and Poppy. They already have a sleepover planned at Aunt Jo and Uncle Pat’s house. We packed 2 days full of the Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, lunch at Fudruckers, gelato, a metro ride, a walk to the Navy Memorial, another visit to the Old Post Office Pavilion, and the Library of Congress.

And that’s what I want to talk about. My dad wanted to take a tour of the Jefferson Building. The Salad and I had 35-40 minutes to kill. I had done my research and the four of us headed straight for the Youth Reader’s Center. We had been busy showing our many visitors the sights around town for the previous 5 days that this quiet place, filled with books, was a much needed respite. They each picked out a handful of books, found a spot and “read.” Little did I know it was the quiet before the storm.

After 40 minutes, we headed up to meet my parents. M spotted them across the Great Hall, still in the middle of the tour. He wanted to go get Poppy, and when I told him he couldn’t, the crying started. And continued for the next 30 minutes. It was not pleasant for either of us. Thankfully, A and S occupied themselves by taking pictures of each other taking pictures of each other.

Why are problems so easy to solve in retrospect? If I had taken a minute to breathe through the crying, I would have thought to take him outside the building. He could have run up and down the steps and been perfectly content.

Note to self – breathe.

Note to the Library of Congress - shorten up those tours.