Weather and Peaceful Places

Here's the story.  Yesterday we had plans for a fun outing to Philadelphia before the moods swung and climate changed in our house.  Not wanting to miss a chance to do something out-of-the-ordinary we downgraded our plans and headed to this big field in Princeton. We snacked on a bench and read informational signs and enjoyed the beautiful scene.  Then we packed into the car and drove to a nearby Battle Monument and went home cheerful.

Here's what I want to remember:  this photo and these two lessons.

1.  Just because tempers seem foul and moods seem stormy doesn't mean all hope for fun is lost.  We just have to find the right activity for the emotional weather.  Yesterday that meant I couldn't take my kids to a high-stress environment with crowds.  It also meant that we needed to go somewhere with few behavioral restrictions.


2.  Battlefields aren't always ugly places.  For example, the Princeton Battlefield wasn't always so pretty.  Would you believe on that field in 1777 George Washington and his 4500 men defeated the British (again) after marching his men all night under strict orders of silence?  Sometimes I worry that the normal sibling/parent conflict that arises in our home with permeate the days and years in their memories, but that's just not true.  Happy days always return.  Things always get better.

And two last photos of the Princeton Battle Monument.  Washington looks so confident and self-assured in this statue and all accounts are that he was as brave in this battle as he is portrayed.  I took this photo mid-day so the sun makes it hard to see each of the figures.  The figures include soldiers and a fallen general--they are interwined and tragically pititful.  But honestly the thing that stood out to me first was their feet--toes sticking straight out of shoes if they even have shoes on at all.

And that's what's on the back--a two-story inscription honoring George.