The date was July 4, 2006 and our family was in Washington, D.C. for the very first time. Our sons were taking part in the DC/LA Christian Youth Conference with our church youth group and we had arrived the day before the conference ended so that, as a family, we could explore the D.C. area for the coming week. Shortly after the conclusion of the conference, the boys and their youth group decided to take in the sights at the National Mall. At that same time, we had returned to our hotel and decided to rest a bit in our room before connecting with the boys to begin our family vacation. It wasn’t long before the sky turned shades of grey and black and a thunderstorm erupted. Safe within our room, we fell asleep to the sound of raindrops pelting our hotel room window.
The sirens woke us up and we turned-on the tv to capture the news – the National Mall had been evacuated and our sons were sheltering in place at some unknown location.
Little did we know, our sons and their youth group were walking through the National Mall, visiting memorials, and appreciating the view. When those same skies turned black and the wind drove the rain in horizontal bands, the Mall’s visitors were sent to storm shelters. Where did our boys end up? Standing at the feet of Abraham Lincoln inside the Lincoln Memorial. They could see tree branches on the ground and random items rolling up and down the mall and being pelted by the driving rain, but were sheltered from the storm by the decades-old memory of our 16th President. And, knowing that the marble columns in the Lincoln Memorial were crafted with marble from Colorado, our sons were also being sheltered by a little comfort from home.
Since that trip, we all pay closer attention to the signs that identify emergency evacuation and shelter locations, recognizing that making mental notes about the locations of storm shelters could keep us all safe and sound.
Happy walking!