American Baby

Have you ever experienced something, a moment, a span of time that you know can never really be captured adequately on film? This is how I feel about my evening spent in the district two weeks ago.

When I first moved to the DC metro area, I was so in awe of the fact that I actually lived here. I couldn't believe that I lived in the same city as the President, the place where most of the decisions concerning our country are made. It was unreal to me. Every morning and afternoon as I commuted across the Wilson Bridge, I looked over at the District. I saw the Washington Monument every day, twice a day and on a clear day, I could see the Capitol. This was amazing to me. However, time passed, and I stopped glancing over there. I stopped thinking about what was going on down there, the decisions being made, the people concerning those decisions. I started taking for granted the beauty, the history, and the importance of this city.

I was reminded of these things the moment I stepped out of the metro station that day. I had never ventured downtown on a regular weeknight before. Since the day was gorgeous, sunny and in the 60's, there were people everywhere! There were a lot of tourists in town for the Cherry Blossom Festival, but there were also a lot of locals out. There were people running, walking their dogs, playing sports. There were locals like me who were walking around taking photos. There were couples walking hand in hand, enjoying the weather and the flowers. There were families, walking, pushing their children in strollers. There were friends spending time together, picnicking. I started my journey at the Smithsonian metro stop which is located right at the Mall. From there, I walked the sidewalks down to the tidal basin. Like I said earlier, these photos (click to enlarge each one) do not do the place, that day, justice.



I walked around the basin and decided to sit for awhile in that bunch of cherry trees that you see on the left in the above photo. This spot seemed to be quite popular. It was a great spot to take pictures of the Washington monument. There was one tree in particular that was getting a lot of photo attention. People would stop there and take pictures of their loved ones under the tree, or they would try and get some blossoms from the tree and the monument in view, like so:



The sun was not in a good spot to really capture the beauty of that tree. Do you know how when you were a child, and you would get a new toy at Christmas, you would play with it nonstop, then you would get to feeling bad for your old toys and start playing with them instead? Okay, well maybe I'm the only one who did this, but I felt this way about the other trees in that area. This one tree was getting all the attention and it made me feel bad for all the others, which were all equally, if not more, beautiful. I sat under one tree for quite a long time. This was the view looking up to the sky:



I have a weakness for taking photos of flowers with blue sky in the background during the springtime. Spring. Wow. Is it not a wondrous thing? I never experienced changing of seasons until I moved "up north" in 2002. That Fall was the first time I had ever seen trees change colors, lose their leaves, and, well, die. I know they don't really die, but they seem to. I thought that there could be nothing more beautiful than the orange, red, and yellows of falling leaves. That is, until Spring came in 2003. I'm not even sure that I knew that trees blossomed like they do. I had seen so many pictures of Fall, in a way, I knew what it was going to look like. But I had never seen anything like Spring. The trees blooming, breathing life into what was dead. It was so amazing to me. I took so many pictures that year, and the next year, and now this year too.




I sat there for a long time in awe of God's creation and its beauty. I do believe that Spring is now my favorite season.

I realize that I am repeating a song with American Baby. However, I felt that since this post was about living in our nation's capital (and since I saw the new video for the first time today), it was appropriate. This song has really grown on me and I totally dig it. Click here to download the new video by Dave Matthews Band.