Have you ever had a weekend where you just needed to get out of your house? Maybe it needs some serious cleaning, and you can't stand to do it, but you also can't stand to stay in the filth. Well, I'm not saying that is what happened here (ahem...), but I will say that last weekend was a "get out of the house" weekend! That is the great thing about living in Europe. "Getting out of the house" becomes more than a trip to the local mall. All of the sudden you're able to see sights you've never seen and visit cities or countries that you've never visited. It means taking in the local culture, sampling the native food, even trying out your new language skills. This weekend we drove not too far from home to a beautiful castle nestled in the forest along the Mosel River Valley. That castle is called Burg Eltz (you can see pictures yourself and read the history at http://www.burg-eltz.de. They even translate in English). I've never seen anything like this. It is beautiful. No, the word "beautiful" really doesn't do it justice. Magnificent? Formidable? I don't think even Webster himself could pen the right words when trying to describe this place. We toured the castle, which, by the way, is over 700 years old and is furnished the way it would have been more than 500 years ago. As I was listening to the tour guide tell tales from the medieval past, I had a revelation: I should have paid more attention in history class 15 years ago.
Seriously, I have never felt so dumb in my entire life! She was spitting out facts and dates and names from centuries ago, and I can't even name all of the American presidents from the 20th century. I have distant memories of studying the history of the world, but apparently I only learned it for testing purposes. I never really planned on retaining any of it. Who would have ever guessed I would be smack dab in the middle of "western civ." Which leads me to this point (and I do have one): I will encourage my children to learn for the sake of learning, not for the sake of making a certain "grade" or maintaining an honor roll average, or graduating cum laude. I will teach them that learning is fun, it opens doors, it makes you a better person. Learning helps you experience life and live it to the fullest. You're never too young to start learning and never too old to stop. Carpe diem!
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