The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall is inscribed with more than 58,000 names, but only two dates: a beginning (November 1, 1955) and an end (May 15, 1975).  Visiting the Wall, however, makes you realize that the pain and loss war inflicts has no end.  During our stay in D.C., Fred took the opportunity to visit the Memorial of the war our fathers' struggled in.  He found it powerful, overwhelming and was most struck how it is a living monument. The Wall changes, and grows.  Even today, Vietnam Veterans are dying from war causes.  A piece of shrapnel, deeply embedded shifts and severs a life giving artery.  An amuptee's kidneys, which have struggled for years to service a maimed body finally shut down.       

The wall began with 58,159 names, about 1200 of which were MIAs notated by a cross.  Anytime one of these missing soldiers is confirmed to have died in the war, his cross is overlaid with a diamond that marks all the other names.  The wall also comes alive because it honors such a recent event.  Hundreds of people who were direclty effected by the war visit the monument everyday, not just observers of a commemoration of a historical event, but emotional participants.  Vietnam Veterans volunteer on the grounds, can point out the date of a specific battle they were in by locating the group of soldier's names who died alongside them that day.       

Along with the emotional moments, we managed some wonderful quality time with a collection of friends.  I tracked down my new Wildacres buddy, Jill, we found our childhood friend, Jane, and my sister called her friend, Drew, and we all assembled at a pub for dinner and drinks.  Jill turned out to be the hostess with the mostest, having the crew back to her place for a night cap and the best tortilla chips!

Then Fred and I wished Karla well for the conclusion of her conference and headed to Baltimore.  Now as you know, this summer leg of travelling is all about catching up, remaining connected with friends and family.  Baltimore is a perfect example.  I worked with Nancy at the first job I got in Chicago. We both moved on, and she soon moved East.  We stayed in touch, and I even visited her once in Baltimore, but we figured out that's been 8 or 9 years ago.  When I found myself in D.C., only an hour away from Nancy's, I shot her an email and was greeted with an open invitation, just like that!  Nancy and her husband Dave live in the best neighborhood.  They can walk to everything: the harbor, federal hill, a market selling fresh seafood, fruit and veggies, and a great coffee shop.  You can't walk two blocks without seeing someone they know and let me tell you, Dave can cook!  He masterpieced a huge pile of ribs, corn on the cob, homemade baked beans that'll make your momma jealous, and had a bucket full of cold ones ready when we walked in the door.  This is what good food, good friends is all about! 
  
I sure won't be relying on a tortured writer shtick this the summer.  As if a fancy hotel in D.C. wasn't enough of a writer's luxury (wrote several scenes for my new novel!), I next landed on a free condominium in Connecticut for a long weekend of writing.  We were headed towards Philly, thought we'd stop to see our Aunt and cousins but they had a weekend wedding and some stuff going on so we didn't want to impose.  No problem, we thought, we'll work our way on into New Jersey, catch Uncle Frank and Aunt June, Uncle Ed and Aunt Lynn.  These are Fred Sr.'s brothers and a priority visit for Fred!  They were thrilled to have us, but couldn't do it until the next week, so we found ourselves with an East Coast weekend to kill.  We had friends in the Adirondacks we were hoping to catch, but since Syracuse was our eventual destination, we couldn't make sense of Upstate, NY, back to Jersey, back to Syracuse.  We are loving the meandering road trip, but all that doubling back didn't sound like fun even to us. 

Family to the rescue!  My brother and his wife, Codruta, are visiting their family in Romania.  Hey, Ben.  Would you like a house sitter?  :)  Trusty Greg passed us a key upon arrival and we camped out for days, planning, writing, reading, analyzing, writing...good fun.  Two days in, I kicked Fred out so I could concentrate on generating new material.  Having to really twist his arm, I sent him off to Foxwoods Casino, which I'd discovered on the internet hosts Texas Holdem' Sit and Go Tournaments all day.  Yes, poor Fred.  He enters, he plays, he wins!  Hours of entertainment, $200 in winnings, plus a free food voucher...Fred heaven.  Meanwhile, I wrote over 5,000 words, a new single day record!  We left CT two, satisfied UnTourists!