"The Wall"

 

I had never been to the Capitol of the United States, Washington DC.
While I was staying with family in New England, my Cousin offered to drive us to see Our Nations Capitol. I must say I was very excited, just to spend the whole time at the Smithsonian would have worked for me. But as You drive into town, and You catch a glimpse of the marble gleaming in the sun light, their shapes so familiar, and their presence so foreign. At that moment, Washington was like a strange bug that I had studied in books, but had never seen in real life…Till now.
As I thought would be the case, the Hope Diamond was breath taking, but after spending hours inside I was ready, I wanted to see a different type of stone, I wanted to see some Marble. But as We had spent so many hours inside, the weather had changed for the worse, it was wet and miserable. Half of Us wanted to leave, but we got a bit of a break in the rain so off we went to the Lincoln Memorial.
Nice thing about the rainy days in Washington, it seems like most everyone takes a cue from the Congress and leaves town at the drop of a hat. Only a couple others out there amongst the marble edifice‘s. The Lincoln Memorial was nice, beautiful work, but this is a long dead Dude that I had studied through the years. What I really wanted to see, what was the current event as I grew up, was  the Viet Nam Memorial…The Wall.
There are names there that I know, I went to the funeral of one, I knew two kids that lost brothers. It’s a bit different when You know someone’s name on the memorial. And those that should have been, not for the lack of trying, ended up the living dead. And for some reason, You don’t get Your name in marble unless You‘re completely dead.
I was making my way down the grade that slowly drops before you to reveal the dark stone panels that make up the wall. When I saw a woman, on in years, and a young child. I could tell that she was searching for someone that meant a lot to her, by the look of determination that  I perceived was the look of a spouse. Kind of a mix of love and irritation. She kept tracing her finger back and forth and back, all the while, between her and the wall is this small child mirroring the moves of, who by this time I figure is Grandma. I could see this in the reflection on the panel to the left. Still watching these two, I raised My camera and she stopped, I clicked the shutter and she exclaimed “This Is Your Grand Father!“