Me too, Emily

Two years ago, I spent the Wednesdays in February sharing pictures from the trip that I took to George Washington's Mount Vernon in 2010. Today is Washington's birthday and I'm thinking about him and the impact he has had on my life. As it turns out, Emily Dickinson shared my admiration for Washington. She wrote about her trip to his estate in a letter to Mrs. J.G. Holland in March 1855.

As I read her words one January afternoon, I got all teary eyed...

"...if you haven't been to the sweet Mount Vernon, then I will tell you how on one soft spring day we glided down the Potomac in a painted boat, and jumped upon the shore - how hand in hand we stole along up a tangled pathway till we reached the tomb of General George Washington, how we paused beside it, and no one spoke a word, then hand in hand, walked on again, not less wise or sad for that marble story; how we went within the door - raised the latch he lifted when he last went home - thank the Ones in Light that he's since passed in through a brighter wicket! Oh, I could spend a long day, if it did not weary you, telling of Mount Vernon..."

Me too, Emily. Me too.

Today is Washington's birthday and I'll celebrate by remembering.

Do you have a favorite person from history?

Is there a place that you could spend a long day telling of if someone was willing to listen?