Yesterday, I had the art nerd’s version of going to Chick-fil-A just to order waffle fries. My stunning wife and I went down to the National Gallery to look at just one painting. In the past, whenever, we’ve gone to the gallery, the question has been, “How can I see as much art as possible in this very short window of opportunity?” But yesterday, we realized that we live all of ten minutes away. Why not go down just to look at one particular painting?
Of course, we wound up looking at more than just one thing. Actually, the day’s itinerary was pretty sweet. It involved:
- Sleeping in
- Driving the all-of-ten minutes onto the Mall from our crow’s nest apartment
- Parking for free
- Eating a picnic lunch on the mall in the summer air under a big shady tree with an award-winning breeze
- Walking through the sculpture garden and realizing that House was a Lichtenstein (We love Lichtenstein.)
- Going straight to the information desk and asking where we could find “The Repentant Magdalene. By Georges De La Tour. Spelled ‘D-E…’ oh, it’s not there? Maybe just look under La Tour? It’d be French… Gallery 37? Thanks!”
- Seeing Magdalene in person. Just …. wow.
- Checking out Newman’s Seven Stations of the Cross, which I try and visit every time I’m at the gallery
- Poking through galleries to find all the Lichtenstein we could
- Enjoying a little gelato and espresso
- Moseying back to our car
- Getting home without any difficulty whatsoever, with time to change before church
You know what… I think I crossed the line into gloating at some point back there. The fact was, it was a perfect day; and after a long, tiring week, it was so kind of God to give it to us. It’s funny how sometimes getting out and doing and seeing stuff is more restful than staying at home or watching a movie. I think we might be doing this again sometime.
[PS: Shoutout to Erin, RN BSN. So proud of you!]