this was written on Friday

It doesn't get much better than a sunny spring day. Especially after you've been sort of out of it for a while. Yesterday was so sunny and beautiful!

We had planned on going into D.C. for the day because we'd been invited to hear Os Guinness speak at the Heritage Foundation on his new book A Case for Civility. So, we had to leave at about 9am to make it there in time. It was a good drive, I even got a little reading done on the way there.

We arrived at the Heritage Foundation and found ourselves greeting past Academy Alumni (which is always a pleasure to find yourself in a kind of odd family among them) and then listened to Os speak. He is so good with words and has a command of history that is inspiring (and discouraging for those of us who have a ways to go to ever be able to think on your feet like he does).

After the lecture we had a bite to eat (they had sandwitches for those attending) and I approached someone I didn't know (I think it's a bit rude to talk to people you already know when you're in a group and other people are just standing around -probably- wanting to talk to someone).

So, the person I walked up to was an Egyptian Physicist. I told him about the academy and how coincidentaly the day before we had been talking about cosmology in class. Then I asked him what his research was on and he told me it was about the theory of gravitons (which I had JUST learned about the day before!) and other difficult to explain ideas. I was excited because I was able to use what I had just learned in conversation, it was amazing.

After talking for a bit we all drove over to Evermay (where the Trinity Forum has its offices) and Lauren gave her class on the philosophy of science in a living room upstairs. It was such a random atmosphere to be studying science in and it was fun too. Nathan actually came and met us there and sat through the class.

After the class Nathan, Will, Cindy and I walked over to the metro and Will went to go read or something and we went to the Museum of Natural History. We made it in time to have about 30 minutes to see the photography exhibit that we had planned to see. It was amazing photography! It was wonderful to be walking around outside because the weather was so amazing!

We took the metro over to the John Hopkins School for International Development (or something) where we were going to watch a documentary on the health care system in Cuba but, it was packed and the monitor in the overflow room wasn't working. So, we decided that rather than wait around we would go back outside since it was so nice out there anyway.

I love walking around the city and so we enjoyed walking towards the Rwandan Embassy where we were going to go to an ice cream social later. We walked untill we found a place to eat. We had pad-thai noodles and sushi (it was great).

Then we walked back to the Embassy to the party that was for the Rwandan guests that had come to visit the Church of the Resurrection (which is a church were a couple Academy Alumni attend). We showed up and got to see some people we knew and meet some new people. Everyone was very friendly and it was a great group of people to be around. I enjoyed it a lot.

Cindy and I took the metro out to meet Scudder, David, and Miriam to drive home with them. It was a long day but we had a wonderful time! We got home late but that was ok too.

Today was a day for "silence and solitude". I decided it was a day to not try to measure success. It was LOVELY outside, slightly warm and very springlike! I did some reading, walked outside, took a nap... nothing too special but, a refreshing day none the less. Trying to de-compress some of the hundreds of thoughts that are running around in my head... I'm glad for days like today.