Honoring my dad

One thing that I always do while visiting DC is pay my respects at the Vietnam War Memorial. My dad is a Vietnam Veteran and visiting the memorial always makes me feel a little closer to him and a bit more understanding of what he has done for those he didn't even know. The sacrifices that all soldiers make each and every day always render me speechless and choked up, and the Vietnam Memorial only exacerbates that emotion in me. And when I consider how the veterans from the Vietnam War were treated upon arriving home, I think it is all the more important to visit the memorial. The monument itself is so ... moving and awe-inspiring and overwhelming. I think it's impossible to be in the presence of those 58,195 names and not feel significant emotion. And, in all honesty, it bothers me greatly when people don't pay the appropriate respect and reverence when visiting the memorial. Perhaps it is my own personal connection to the memorial. Perhaps it is me being old-fashioned. I'm lucky that my dad made it home when so many others didn't, especially since, if he hadn't, I wouldn't be here now. 

Young, haunting faces.

Reflections in the wall

This picture is my absolute favorite and was completely serendipitous. While taking pictures of the wall, I chose a spot at random, positioned my camera at the base of the wall, and shot straight up into the sky. I was very pleased with the effect and then completely stunned when I was loading them into my computer. As I was cropping and tweaking my photos (with my very minimal software) when I got home this afternoon, I noticed the names that I had captured on The Wall. In the exact center of my photograph was the name "Donald." That's my dad's first name. How spookily serendipitous is that? I am thankful it isn't my dad's name (it actually belongs to a Donald J. Fisher, God rest his soul).

While you're here, please take a moment to "click" for me!