Whenever I try too hard to fit in, I just end up sticking out. I’m forever one step behind my Zumba instructor and everyone else in the class.
Which reminds me; why is my Zumba instructor overweight? She’s not overweight by much; just packing the same twenty pounds I’ve been hauling around for the last twenty years. Well, her twenty pounds are not the exact same twenty pounds, but I know love handles when I see them.
Did you know, if you have a phobia of long words, you have to tell people you have hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia? Personally, my phobias aren’t for public consumption, so mums the word; a very short and sweet word, by the way.
In a related twist, I had no idea the dictionary definition for the word “short” is really, really long. How ironic is that?
I also wasn’t much of a history buff as a student either; now it seems to be all I talk about. I'm inclined to think life (okay, my life) may just be one big irony.
Travel does put a new spin on all that history. Field trips are certainly the way to go! Our latest was chocked full of history.
You remember the Lincoln-Douglas debates, right? Right! I know; the facts are there; retrieval is the problem. Voila; field trip!
Minus the original ten thousands onlookers to share in the historic moment, Jimmy and I had no problem seeing the two orators. I had a bit more trouble though getting the gist of the debate. Fortunately Ottawa had cheat sheets set up in strategic locations to help those of us (that would be me!) that are historically challenged.
Ottawa was very much into history, particularly as it pertained to Ottawa; a common theme I might add for most of us, history that touches moi. Their “brush with history” was larger than life, proudly and colorfully displayed on buildings throughout the downtown area.
A re-enactment of the Lincoln-Douglas debate at the southwest corner of Washington Park left little doubt this event was both historic and well attended.
Well, for starters, Tiffany knew; and so did Peltier Glass Company. No time to incorporate these three images into one grand dame. Besides, the whole thing would be smaller than a postage stamp. You know; that little rectangular piece of paper, sticky on one side, the price ever increasing, soon to be obsolete, that’s been used for procuring snail mail delivery since 1840.
I was reminded of our visit to Pontiac, Illinois, another small town that celebrates in a similar fashion with a handful of murals depicting their unique history. Their claim to fame is the Route 66 Museum, and of course a history that also includes Abraham Lincoln.
This is, after all, the Land of Lincoln, steeped in enough history to make a believer out of even me. History harbors a wealthy of unseen beauty beneath the rubble of dates and people and events that shaped their lives, and ultimately mine.
I guess the joke’s on me. So is the next field trip.