Mom's birthday

Me, Jasmine, Lotus, Carol

 I flew to Virginia on Saturday and picked up my rental car.

Sunday morning my sister Carol came over to Mom's with her grandkids, Jasmine and Lotus. There isn't a lot of room in mom's apartment so the girls and I went for a walk and gathered fallen leaves.

My brother Spade came over, too. Mom, Spade and I met my friends Judy, Lance and Tony at IHOP for brunch. We spent a few hours catching up and sharing stories.

Sunday evening Mom and I went to the church service at her apartment. The pastor, Nellie, is also a docent at the US Capitol. I had not been to the capitol since I was a congressional intern in the 1970's and mom had never been. Nellie said she would give us a tour on Monday if mom wanted to do that for her birthday.

Nellie holding up the dome.

Mom and Nellie in front of the casting for the statue at the top of the US capitol dome.

 We were able to get a parking space less than a block and half from the visitor center entrance. Nellie met us right outside of security and had us with a small group of college students from Honduras. With our small group we were able to take the elevator to the rotund. Nellie had it all planned for mom.

We toured the rotunda shrouded in fabric and scaffolding during the restoration of the dome and hall of statues (former house of representatives) then went down one level to the crypt and to the old Supreme Court Chamber.

On the way back to the Visitor's Center, Nellie told the students that the elderly woman with them was celebrating her 91st birthday. All of them spontaneously started singing Happy Birthday right there in the Capitol Building!

 After the students departed, Nellie took us back to see the Old Senate Chamber and the Visitor's Center Museum. It was truly a special tour and special event for mom's birthday.

We drove out of downtown D.C. during rush hour to make our way to Waldorf, MD to have dinner with my sister Lea and brother-in-law Tim. It was a long day but so worth it.

The trip home on Tuesday was okay. It was raining in DC but the flight left on time. The flight out of O'Hare was not so uneventful. There wasn't even a plane until almost two hours after we were supposed to have departed.

I used the two hours to eat familiar Chicago food. Tri-flavored popcorn and nuts from Nuts on Clark and a Chicago-style hot dog from the secret place on the L concourse.