During the years that I taught in the Floyd County Schools Program for the Gifted it became a tradition to make an annual trip to the nation's capital with our eighth-grade classes. As a history buff and political junkie I really enjoyed that trip. By the time we'd been several years I felt like I could have gone into the Washington DC Tour Guide business. We did all the usual stuff like visiting the capitol, the White House, the various monuments. But we also managed a few less well-known sites like "The Awakening" a strange sculpture in Potomac Park of a gigntic figure emerging from the ground.
The visit to Washington's grand National Cathedral was also a treat. It was still under construction. It was neat to see the "modern" touches like the muppet gargoyles and the stained glass window that includes a moonrock.
We spent a few minutes in the museum shops at the various attractions and I always tried to bring back something for my wife and kids. Animal cereal dishes from the National Zoo one year, cups from the Smithsonian, etc. The year that we were expecting Lillian's birth I bought these figurines from the National Cathedral shop --- a beautiful "grown-up" angel for Sheila, a child angel for Brannon who was not quite five, and a cherub for the expected baby who would be Lillian. These are brought out during the Christmas season each year and displayed on our living room mantle.
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