Washington, DC

Our trip was supposed to start on Thursday the 4th of November but we got off to a little slow start.  We went to see our friends Rob and Julie Volstead on Thursday but forgot to bring the camera.  We actually had planned to go back to the house on Friday because we had some unfinished business to take care of.  Like the leaking faucet that was leaking to the tune of one gallon every 4 minutes.  There were a lot of small bad things that added up to make it kind of a bummer of a day.  I can't really remember them now.  At the time we labeled it the worse day of '99.  Jen is the "realist" in our family, so she could probably remember the things that went wrong that day.  I, being the optimist, have long since forgotten about them although I am sure they seemed large at the time.

Our first stop once we hit the road again on Saturday was at my sister, Julie, and cousin, Gaileen's, house somewhere outside of DC.  I hadn't seen Gaileen since before she went off to Columbia International University to get her Master's in Education in the summer of '98 so it was really good to see her.  They had some friends over that night and we had a bonfire, sang songs and prayed for our friends son, Brandon. who was sick.  The girls live in a dungeon type apartment.  You have to open a cellar door and walk down steep stairs.  Once you get inside it is pretty nice though.

        

The next morning we went with Julie and Gaileen to their church.  Julie sang a wonderful solo.  I can't believe how much her voice has matured.  It must have been all the encouragment that David and Nathan gave her over the years when we were growing up.  I have no idea what Gaileen is doing on the right.  She has always been one of the more charasmatic Rathmell's though.

    
 
 

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