WHERE AND WHEN, BELOVED?

There's a special kind of warm fuzzy you get when you look into loving eyes of a friend or a relative that you haven't seen for a while. You hear their voices and a shimmy goes through your body, mind soul and spirit. Each new hug and the time you spend talking, laughing, eating, walking, swimming, barbecuing, watching weddings, attending wakes, standing sadly by gravesides; playing cards, ice skating, tobogganing, biking, laying on the beach; going downtown on the bus or the train to see a museum.

     Watching the lights change inside a fountain with the star-filled night sky overhead; ice fishing, fly fishing, fishing with worms, fishing with salmon roe; taking a plane ride, going out in the canoe, rowing across the lake, shooting the rapids in a kayak, in a raft; taking a Wendella boat ride, going to the Dells, going to Riverview, going to Santa's Village.

     Going to the Goodman Theater, going to the Opera House; going to the Blackstone Theater, eating at The French Quarter at the Palmer House, looking at the dioramas at the Chicago Historical Society, going to SecondCity and getting called up to try out an improv; going down into the Coal Mine at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, visiting the Thorne Miniature Rooms.

     The George Segal Sculptures; the Marc Chagall stained glass windows, the painting by Serat, "Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte," the O'Keefe paintings, the support-less curved staircase, El Greco's "Ascension of the Virgin," Picasso's blue "Guitar Player" with the ghostly outline of Gloria Stein's figure underneath it; my favorite T'ang Dynasty tomb horse; admiring Rodin's sculptures. 

     Monet's, Manet's, Cassatt's, Van Gogh's impressionist, new-impressionist and modern paintings; seeing "American Gothic," taking time to look at the gorgeous intricate and amazing paper weights' seeing the eggs hatch; going on a tour of the U-505; enjoying the fish and other sea creatures in the Shedd Aquarium; marveling at the wonders of the universe in the Adler Planetarium; walking up and down the Magnificent Mile; taking a small train ride at Brookfield Zoo.

     Do you remember? Where else, Beloved?

     And, Beloved, how 'bout coming with me to The Garden of Eating, to the Eagle River Glacier, to the Mendenhall Glacier, to Mt Aleyska; hiking in the Chugach, watching the sunset near Capt Cook's statue where the decking for the Bicentenniel is.

     Fishing in hip waders in the Russian River, sledding at Hatcher's Pass; taking the train up to Denali National Park, down to Soldatno, over to Valdez, looking for whales' going to Fairbanks; going to North Pole, going to Talkeetna; going to the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.  

     Staying at the Captain Cook Hotel for Fur Rendezvous, going to the Miners' and Trappers' Ball, putting the mayor in a jail cell outside in ten below zero weather; going cross country skiing, going downhill skiing; visiting waterfalls, visiting very old Russian OrthOdox stave churches and brightly, colorfully decorated cemeteries with little picket fences around the graves; taking walks in the woods, carefully listening for bears.

     Flying to see The Katmai and the Land of Ten Thousand Smokes; driving up the the North Slope; watching herds of caribou walk by; watching mama moose with twin youngsters walk by' watching grizzly bears, black bears, brown bears fishing for salmon' eating berries; chasing after cubs; seeing Dall sheep; seeing wolves seeing ptarmigan. 

     Seeing the elephants in the Anchorage Zoo; seeing the polar bears playing with empty beer kegs in the water; looking for downed pilots from light planes near the Walrus Islands; seeing walruses plopping into the Gulf of Alaska off the Aleutians; going to Galena when it's 30 below zero' sixty below zero; high summer and it's 50 above zero. 

     Staying in old Alaskan Railroad sleeper cars forever stationary now outside one of the Demail National Park lodges; ice skating on the ice rink behind the grade school; having a picnic in the snow near the cabin of your work place on the back base.

     Watching F-15s take off; watching C-141s take off; watching helicopters take off; watching VSTOL aircraft take off; watching stealth bombers and fighters take off. 

     Watching the kids downhill races at the ski area on the back base . . .what else and where else?

     Just name it, Beloved . . . I'll do my best to meet you there.

     Or . . . Let's go down to the Capitol Mall and watch the runners go by, watch the tourists go by, watch the school kids going on field trips; watch the flocking pigeons; watch the squirrels; go to the American Indian Museum; go to the African American Museum.

     Go to see our congress members, our senators.

     Visit the National Gallery of Art, its East Wing, the American History Museum; the Air and Space Museum; the National archives' the Lincoln Memorial; the Jefferson Memorial; on a tour of the Capitol; to the White House; to the Museum of Women's Art; to the Smithsonian, to the National Zoo. 

     Go for a picnic in Rock Creek Park; up to the top of the Washington Monument; to the Viet Nam Veterans' Memorial; to the Korean War Veterans' Memorial; to the World War II Veterans Memorial.  

     Visit FDR's and Eleanor's Memorial; enjoy a hike and paddling in the Potomac on and just right off Teddy Roosevelt's Island.

     Go for a drive from the furthest north to Mt Vernon on the George Washington Parkway; to Baltimore on the Balt-Wash Parkway; up and down Sligo Creek Parkway.

   Worshipfully enjoy the National Cathedral; go to the Old Post Office; ride on a canal boat on the C&O Canal.  

     Go for on a hike on the Maryland side of the C&O Canal; go on a picnic overlooking Great Falls on the Virginia side of the park.  

     Drive up to Harpers Ferry; drive over to Jefferson's Monticello; drive out to the Appalachians.

     Go to a concert on the Mall; go to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July from the steps of the Capitol; go to visit the Smithsonian'S American Folklife Festival; go to see and hear  a concert outdoors at Wolftrap.

     Go to see a play at Kennedy Center; go to see a play at Ford's Theater, go to see a play at the Folger Shakespeare Theater; go to read some books at the Library of Congress.

     Go to see the Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History; go to visit the Asian and African Museums.

     Ride on the carousel on the Mall; ride on the carousel at Glen Echo Park.

     Go contra dancing at the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park; drive up the parkway to Great Falls. 

     Or where else and when else, Beloved?

     Just let me know and I will do my best to be there . . .

     (And I didn't even get started with the places where I love to meet people to have a meal together . . . and I didn't even bring up DuPont Circle, Scott Circle, McPherson Square, Lafayette Park . . .!)

     Or. . . How 'bout The Golden State Bridge; The Presidio; Napa; Santa Barbara; LA; San Diego; Santa Cruz; Lompoc; Big Sur; riding a trolley riding a train; visiting Disneyland; visiting Knot's' Berry Farm; visiting fisherman's Wharf; taking a ferry to AngelsIsland; watching a Major League baseball game' surfing going to Hollywood.

     Or driving through the Redwood Forest; marveling at the Sequoia trees; camping at the foot of El Capitan; sailing on Crater Lake; driving up or down Hwy 101 along the Pacific; riding the roller coaster on the Santa Cruz Pier; fishing off the Huntington Beach Pier; going to the Back Bay in Costa Mesa; worshipping at Saddleback Church; driving to Vegas; playing in Vegas, but gently.

     How about taking a train along the southern route through Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; taking the middle route on the train from the town east of San Francisco through Reno, through the Sierras, through Utah; through Salt Lake City.

     We could ride through Omaha; through the mesas, in to Grand Junction; through the Rockies; past Glenwood Springs, past the ski areas; along the Colorado River; along the Missouri River; through Colorado.

     Through Iowa to Chicago and then through Indiana, through Ohio, through Pennsylvania, in and out of West Virginia just a little bit, along the Potomac through Maryland down to D.C.

     Or up the very busy Eastern Corridor from D.C through Maryland, through Delaware, through Rhode Island, through Connecticut, across the Chesapeake, across the Susquehanna; up into New York. 

     Through to Boston . . . Up to New Hampshire, up to Maine . . . Oh so many beautiful places, oh so many interesting people from all over our land, from all over the world . . .!

     What do you say, Beloved? Where else and when else? Just let me know and I will do my best to join you!

     Do you remember? Where else, Beloved?

     I'll do my best to meet you wherever and whenever.