Our Nation's Capital

(White House Egg Roll, 2004)Trust me, I am NOT complaining! I absolutely love being busy (when it does not involve rushing around with unhealthy loved ones)! It was a very long, tiring week. After getting home at midnight, we returned to school on Tuesday morning and I returned to Ohio State this week as spring break is over and I begin my FINAL quarter of classes, praise the Lord!! Shayla was incredibly busy after school every day with ballet, jazz and horse lessons. Then it was a quick bite to eat and off to musical practice. She returned home close to 10PM each night, but never once complained; she's absolutely loved all of this! Everyone has been very sweet to her and she will be saddened tomorrow when the curtain falls for the final time.

Shayla did not think this trip would be good for a “guessing game” because everyone knows all about Washington DC. The trip may not have been the best choice in terms of trying to avoid memories and emotions, but Washington DC was on our way home and we thought it’d be educational for Shayla. Therefore, after we left glorious Colonial Williamsburg (where we could have easily spent a third or fourth day) we drove up to DC. Some may remember that Christi was invited to participate in the White House Egg Roll in 2004 (a glorious event we will forever cherish). When I first looked at hotels, the cheapest rate I found was at the same exact hotel we stayed in for that event. Well, I couldn’t handle that so I picked the next cheapest one.

We really enjoyed touring and being together in our nation’s capital. Much to our surprise, we walked around the White House and discovered they were setting up for the egg hunt – the exact event we were really trying to avoid, and then we learned that "The Jonas Brothers" would be playing the next day at at Egg Roll so (we needed another knife in our heart or something) we went back to see if Shayla could see them at the actual egg roll on Monday. I fought back tears as we stood outside the gates watching the little ones and their families.

Shayla really enjoyed the city and is an amazing traveler!! At the Natural History Museum Shayne and I were both without our breath for a bit when we walked into the mammals room and both distinctively remembered Christi sketching, for a lengthy time period, in that room. Shayne also entertained the girls in the city in July of 2004 while I was attending teachers’ meetings. Although sad, I did enjoy seeing the places he took the girls. He is the most amazing dad, and husband.

Recently, I told Shayla Christi had been dead for a year and a half and she said, "Really? I thought it was three years." I'm not certain why that comment keeps haunting me, but it does.

When I was in the midst of throwing together this trip, I really wanted to attend church on Easter at the National Cathedral. Well, all of their Easter service tickets were gone so we decided to just visit the church instead in between services. As soon as we started walking up to it, I realized it was a mistake and that it was too hard, but Shayla was very excited about seeing inside so we went on in, but it was hard, very hard for both of us.