I wanted to tell you that we had a wonderful 30 year Anniversary celebration. John met me at Mom's and we drove with Mary Beasley to Philadelphia where we dropped her off at her daughter's house. Kathy & Clinton are good friends from high school. She was a patient traveler and put up with all our stories. It was fun. We visited the Historic Area of Philadelphia and got to see the Liberty Bell and many other wonderful things. One very sweet moment there was when the officials at the Liberty Bell allowed a young blind boy feel the crack in the bell. The only bad thing about the day we were there was IT WAS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL and there were thousands of kids on field trips. We finally just gave up trying to see some things. John and Meredith met us the afternoon of May 15 and took our car to visit his parents in Lebanon, PA. and we rode the Amtrak to New York City.
We spent 4 days in NYC and had a great time. We spent an entire day on the top of a double-decker bus seeing the sights and hearing the commentaries. We spent time at the Twin Tower Sight and the church where the firefighters rested before they went back to the site to work. We went to the top of the empire state building, ate at the Battery, ate at Little Italy (best lasagna I've ever had), went to China Town, toured Brooklyn's Guggenheim Museum and ate ice cream at Serendipity 3. We saw the Broadway Play The Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was a sad story but the music was just wonderful. When we came out of the theater is was pouring rain. We had 10 blocks to walk and no umbrella or taxi in sight. We walked and walked and got more and more wet. We stopped for a red light and John told me to step back because the cars would splash me. I looked at him and died laughing. I was already soaked so what would a splash from a car hurt. We watched as thousands of little girls were lined up to audition for The American Girl Movie. The line was totally around a city block. We were on the front row of David Letterman which was just so special and we got to see the set of The Today Show. We met some Brazilians in our hotel. I heard them speaking Portuguese and actually recognized the language. My teacher, Marina, would be proud.
We rode the Amtrak back to Philadelphia where John and Meredith picked us up. Ben and his girlfriend, Wendy, met us in Washington, DC and we had a wonderful time touring DC with them and being together. It had been a long time since we had been together as a family. We saw as much of DC as we could before they all had to leave two days later. While at the Lincoln Memorial a group of soldiers started walking up the steps. Everyone cheered. It was a very moving moment for me. Meredith and John went to South Carolina where Ann Bryant and Shirley Reeves had a baby shower for her. Ben and Wendy flew back to Los Angeles. (I have put some pictures on the blog).
John and I attended the wedding of Amy, daughter of John's Sister, Katherine, and her husband, Jim. We had such a good time again being with family. Betsy and Alan (John's other sister and her husband) came too. The wedding was at the wonderful old Catholic Church and it was beautiful and the reception was at an Officers Club in DC. We especially loved Amy and Kevin's first dance. They had practiced and practiced and it was perfect. I like this new trend of the first dance being choreographed for the bride and groom. The food was perfect and we got to meet Jim's family and see his other two daughters, Elizabeth and Peggy. We had never met Peggy's husband or Elizabeth's fiance so this was a real treat for us. I know Jim feels so blessed to see his daughters so happy.
We did get to spend one day in Anderson. John had a business trip to South Carolina. What a treat to see old friends and see the ever changing Anderson, South Carolina. It is booming. After all of this traveling John has promised not to even look at the Mastercard Bill. I don't want him to become sick in Brazil. = ) He is back in Brazil and doing well. He struggles with the cooking but is doing well other than that. I miss him. He took care of Mom and me while she was in the hospital. Thank you for all your calls and cards. They are encouraging to both Mom and to me too.
