Michael Beschloss at the Library of Congress Book Festival

I worked at the Library of Congress for ten years. So going to the National Book Festival was a “given.” Back then it was held on the National Mall over two days in the summer. We could walk over because it was just a couple of blocks away. A few years back the location was changed to the Convention Center on the Saturday of the Labor Day weekend. We either had to take the metro or drive. Rather than go during the day time hours, we usually found a program later in the evening and always found a parking space. I really wasn’t thinking about going this year until my husband said he wanted to see an author that would be presenting at ten in the morning. So we compromised and found that Michael Beschloss would be on the main stage at seven in the evening talking about his new book “Presidents of War.” Neither one of us was particularly interested in the topic, but we both like the author, other material he has written, and listening to him whenever they need a presidential historian on TV. So we drove over last night, found a parking spot, and walked a couple blocks to the center. Of course I had to pick up the 2019 festival bag. I may have seen a couple familiar faces as we walked to the main stage - which was huge! The event was one of the better ones and we were delighted that we attended. My husband always gets nostalgic whenever we ride in to town since we moved to Virginia in April from Capitol Hill. He said he would really be sad if we moved to a place far away from town because he likes the vibe of this city and he would probably rather live there still. I was glad to live there as long as I was working because my commute was just two blocks away - unheard of! But it’s only ten miles away now and we were home in twenty five minutes or so. Both of us can live with that.