Hickory Hill

It’s usually quiet for us on the holidays. When we lived on Capitol Hill we were in the thick of things. We went to the Capitol fourth concert several times in the twelve years that we lived there, stood by the cannons while the symphony orchestra played the 1812 Overture, and stood on Independence Avenue watching the fireworks down by the Washington Monument. The last couple of years we stayed away from the crowds and walked over to the House of Representatives Park to watch the same display. We moved to Virginia three months ago and are far removed from any fireworks. So today we decided to go out for lunch and then take a drive around the neighborhood. We turned on to a street off of the Dolley Madison Parkway - one we have intended to drive down but never have. And to our surprise we came upon Hickory Hill - Bobby and Ethel Kennedy’s home. There was a small sign in front of the house and the white home looked so familiar because I remembered seeing photos of it as a youngster. We continued on our afternoon jaunt for a while longer. On Capitol Hill we were surrounded by history that went much further back than the 1960’s and lived in an 1890’s building. Now we live in a 2018 home surrounded by a variety of living history makers - some of whom we have seen at the McLean Family Restaurant. I don’t think we will see any fireworks in our neighborhood this evening. Maybe we’ll watch them on TV.