Day 99: So real, so personal

Philadelphia...city of brotherly love. After our day spent exploring Independence National Historical Park, we'd change the phrase to city of fatherly love. The sacrifices made by our founding fathers, and our deepened appreciation of them, have forever transformed the way we view the events and actions leading to the establishment of our United States. The national park does a fantastic job interpretting both the loyalist and patriot sides of the independence equation, and we came away with a new understanding of the fear, heartache and even spiritual agony faced by the people in the 13 colonies. To act or even speak against their king was to commit treason, and yet not doing so was to ignore the trampling of God-given rights. The untenable position carried a myriad of possible consequences, including rifts in families, financial loss and alienation.

Our focus on the Revolutionary War had never ventured past the end of the war itself. And so our experience in Congress Hall, just west of Independence Hall (in which the Declaration and the Constitution were signed), was eye-opening. It's the room in which the great experiment of American democracy moved from a crazy idea to full-blown reality...the room in which the Congress of the United States met from 1790 until 1800, at which point it moved to the newly completed Capitol in Washington D.C.   Starting a government doesn't just happen overnight. Case in point: the government was to provide mail service, but Georgia didn't have roads to accommodate its delivery. Should those needed roads be the responsibility of the federal government? The state? Those details had to be hammered out before the government's responsibility of mail delivery could be implemented. The decisions made by that first Congress have carried to today...roads connecting states are federal roads or highways, and roads within a state are assigned as state, county or city responsibility. The number of legal wrinkles to be smoothed out must have seemed insurmountable at times. And perhaps the most significant event was March 4, 1796, when John Adams was inaugurated in Congress Hall as the 2nd President of the United States: the world's first peaceful transfer of power. Our goosebumps at that point in the ranger presentation felt as big as marbles.

The day had so many special "ah-ha" moments, it's hard to pick which ones to highlight. But one in particular deserves a special note. We were exploring the National Constitution Center, a highly interactive museum dedicated to illuminating the Constitution as a living, breathing document that leads and defines our country today as much as it did 224 years ago. One of the first displays was a screen on which 100 pictures of faces were streaming. I reached out and touched one that looked vaguely familiar...and was thrilled to my core when the next screen opened with the name Susan Epperson, and a piece detailing her legal case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court (which ruled in her favor). Susan is the mom of Mark, with whom we enjoyed New York City just two days ago! She's a wonderful woman who has poured herself into our family's life in many ways over the years, and she's a great friend of both our moms. I'd known she was a rockstar biology professor, but I'd never known of her landmark 1968 case in the education field. Seeing Susan in that museum reinforced the concept of the Constitution being of, by, and for the people...Susan is our people!

On the road toward Independence...literally!

Independence Hall (formerly the Pennsylvania State House). Parts of the structure are undergoing renovation...thus, the scaffolding.

Our ranger guide told a funny story about this modern take on the Declaration signers...just a month ago, he asked a big crowd of visitors to identify the man in the very center of the scene. A little boy, about 7, raised his hand and said "Bill Clinton"! (It's George Washington)

Take my word for it...we're standing in front of the Liberty Bell!

John and Kelsey getting cozy with James Madison in the National Constitution Center's Statue Hall.

Kendall and Benjamin Franklin, who was 81 at the time of the Signing.

Philly has done a beautiful job of creating a park setting around its historic buildings. Independence Hall is in the center distance behind the girls.