The time has come to say good-bye to a beautiful era - The Teenage Years.
That's right, the Kitchen family has been a "teenager" family for 20 years, and today, it ended.
Today, our little baby Morgan turned 20.
She can now fully own up to all her aches and pains that would be more fitting to an old lady.
She can stand tall with pride on the family reunion excel spreadsheet and be listed as an "adult."
She will no longer have to hide in embarrassment when asked her age.
She can be like the rest of us - old.
So thank you, Morgan, for finishing that era off with such grace and beauty.
But Little Smoodycakes, I'm sorry to tell you that even though the Teenage Years Era has come to an end,
there's one era that will never end - The Baby Morgan Era.
Because no matter how old you are, you are still all of our little baby - forever and always.
I hope you had some time this weekend to reflect on that peculiar tradition that is known as an Easter Egg Hunt.
Perhaps you reflected on the various nature of those who participate in the Hunt.
Such as the men who fear the anxiety of the battle, but put on their brave faces anyway because they know the rewards outweigh the risks.
Or perhaps you reflected on those who suddenly gain warrior strength and speed as they rush from egg to egg.
Or perhaps you found yourself admiring those who remain calm and collected during the general pandemonium in order to use their ingenuity to achieve victory.
Or perhaps you were amazed by those who become so confused in that very same pandemonium that they forget what it was exactly they are supposed to be gathering.
Or perhaps you pondered those who are content to simply find one egg, delicately place it in their basket, and guard it fiercely.
Or maybe you found enjoyment by pondering those who frequently stop to make sure their spoils are worth the effort.
Or maybe you like to think about those who are just happy to be there.
However, the people we should really be reflecting on are those who pilfer goods from innocent children in the name of "They could use less sugar anyway."
Something should really be done about those people.
I spent the last week in Utah, loving my family, and yesterday I flew back to DC.
I love flying, but mostly, I love the window seat.
Whenever I look out an airplane, one thought runs through my mind over and over again:
And I am so small.
This world is an unending source of unduplicated, awe-inspiring creations and I can only look and be reminded of how little I see, how much I don't understand, and how often I forget.
It was an interesting feeling compared to the feeling that was pressing on me each day while I was at home. I would look at my parents, my siblings, their spouses and children and one thought ran through my mind over and over again:
My world fits into one tiny frame.
They are an unending source of unduplicated, awe-inspiring love and I can only be reminded of how much I need them, how desperately I always want to be near them, and how little the world would mean without them.
Since Ben loves us more than anyone else in the family, he came out to visit us.
He might have spent some time at a math conference while he was here, but the point is, he could have found a math conference anywhere, and he chose DC, because he loves us.
And because it's where, apparently, everything is free. Free rides to and from the airport, free dinners, free hotels, free math knowledge, free DC tours, free monuments, free museums, free entertainment....it's all FREE!!!
Ben's free weekend began with showing us his schedule and when he would have free time for us.
We dropped him off at his fancy, free hotel at 2 am and we witnessed this for the first time.
Which reminded us of this:
Later that weekend, Chitty Chitty Ben Ben got the fully loaded free tour of our nation's capitol.
He saw the Washington.
He saw the capitol.
And we walked through a swamp so that he could see the White House.
This is what happened to Kelly in the swamp. There were tears shed.
Because Ben was more excited to see the White House than anything else (we never discovered exactly why), we decided to see it from both views. We always go the extra mile as tour guides.
Woodruff for President 2012
We ate at a quaint Italian place at the Reagan Center for "free." Don't worry, Kim, it was vegan.
One of the many great things about Ben, is that he is blissfully obedient. If you say "Hey Ben, can you go lean against that wall with your arms folded for a photo shoot?" he does it immediately without question.
When it got dark, we visited my ALL-TIME favorite place on the mall - the World War II Monument.
You walk along granite pillars that represent all the states and territories that dedicated themselves to the cause of winning the war. There is a laurel wreath hanging on each pillar, and as you walk up the ramp you find yourself crowned with each state - like you were part of the war, the service, the victory.
We each took a picture by the state we are most in love with.
This is what we got when we asked a non-English speaking tourist to take our picture.
This is what we get when we ask an English-speaking tourist to take our picture.
This is Ben with his "Everything is Free!" face.
"Hey Ben, will you dance between the pillars of the Lincoln Monument so that we can video your shadow dance?"
Korean Monument. You can barely tell which one is the statue and which one is Ben.
Ben next to his favorite thing about DC, the crosswalks that give you 64 second countdowns to cross a street that takes 3 seconds.
Ben had mentioned several times how cool it would be to touch the Washington Monument. So he did. Because he's cool.
And he's brave. Look at all those bugs!
DC rebels jumping off the path.
DC rebels hopping fences.
This boy was a tired little math baby after a full night of free DC tours.
The next day, we took Ben to our most favorite place in the DC area: the Amish market.
Ben loved the Lincoln statue pose, it was hard to get him to do any other pose for pictures.
We brought our Amish market goods home to eat so that Ben could see where we lived. We feasted on stuffed pretzels, a cream cheese pumpkin roll, and orange lemonade. Don't worry, Kim, it was all vegan.
Then we had a dance party.
Then we sang our way to the airport where Ben tried to squeeze all his DC memories into his luggage.
Then we said good-bye and cried a little.
And our little water boy flew back to the Burg.
I hope there's one thing we've all learned from this post: you too can have a wonderful, free time in DC. Please come visit. And please hurry.
And if that's not convincing enough, you can also have your own trailer, with an accompanying movie (opening day: June 26th)
