Beware! You Gotta Serve Somebody

“It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody,” says Bob Dylan. Thank you, my guests, for allowing me, your servant, the opportunity and privilege to “shout to the North and the South, sing to the East and the West,”  “from the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring.” It is indescribable, uncontainable this experience of sharing the passion of the Holy City of Charleston with you.  For those of us who are blessed to be called Charlestonians, our city is hallowed ground, set apart for a special purpose, peculiar, distinct and different, which is what the word “holy” means in Greek.

I believe it was the Jewish people who gave Charleston the nick name the Holy City.  Who else could?  Our guarantee of religious freedom and tolerance in our colony brought us some of the first Jewish immigrants.  When the Marquis de Lafayette visited every state for our 50th Anniversary as a nation, it was Charleston who first presented the Jewish congregations to the Nation’s Guest along with Christian congregations and ethnic and civic societies.  It was here that his secretary Levasseur first wrote of the disproportional  contribution the Jewish volunteers made to the American Cause for LIBERTY.  Here they were considered “A Portion of the People”.

We are geographically set apart on the Peninsula for a special purpose and grow more peculiar, distinct and different as the rest of the world changes and we preserve our heritage both architecturally and culturally.  “Where are the sky scrapers, the business section” many of you ask.  “I need to get my bearings.”  I answer, “Our church steeples are still our sky scrapers.”Despite wars, fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, Earthquake of 1886, British bombardment, Union bombardment,  ransacking, and the ravages of time, Charleston still looks like the oldest city in America.  We formed the first Preservation Society of any city in the nation in 1920 under Susan Pringle Frost.

“People come here who have heard rumors from friends of an old city still left with high walls, and gardens barely visible through wrought iron gates, of houses with plum colored roofs.  We have something new for their eyes to see.  If you are weary of the syncopated unrest of a crazy world, come here and set your feet to a saner tempo.  ‘What would we gain by that’, you ask; ‘all we’d accomplish would be to get out of step with the rest of the world.’  We do not argue the point, but if you would only do it for a bit, you would leave us wiser than when you came; for the streets of Charleston have something to give them who walk them in a receptive mood that will make life forever richer.”

Beware!  The Holy City of Charleston is infectious!  I am a servant of the Holy City as one says trying to convert you at every turn, to allow that passion I have to be yours as well.  It is a rich history here with many layers still to be unpeeled, held within family portraits, papers, diaries, letters, and unpublished novels.  Charles Waring, editor of the salmon papers of the Charleston Mercury, told me last night at The Wedding at St. Philip’s on Church Street of our minister’s daughter, Katie, that he has an unpublished novel by an ancestor of his family about Lafeyette!  I want to read that historic fiction, as those of you who have heard me wax poetic about this French Founding Father can imagine. One life time is too short to discover all the facets of our city’s heritage.  Come and see!  “Ho!  Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the water.  Ye that have no money, come ye buy and eat. Wherefore do you give your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not?”

I look forward to meeting you, feeding both body and soul if you are in a receptive mood.  A sumptuous feast of the senses awaits you!–Laura Wichmann Hipp 843-577-5896

Many Thanks to 2012 Visitors: You Own a Piece of Marble in Charleston

My heart is soaring with thoughts of appreciation to all who have come on my tour this year 2012.  For the first time in 15 years of living in our historic Charleston house, I have made a lasting change to our kitchen, the War Room where the real work is done.  Today is the first day of the rest of my life:  I have marble counters!  Each person on my tours owns a square inch of marble in Charleston in my house!  I am so appreciative, because each person on my tour has made it possible.  And that’s a lot of tours!

Charleston kitchens historically had marble counters though not big kitchens.  When Frances Smythe Edmonds was asked if the Historic Charleston Foundation she directed could have a kitchen tour, her response was, ” Why would anybody want to see inside a kitchen?  The only thing I want to see in the kitchen is the cook!”

Varnetta, who is my help at home, helps me serve and often gets mistaken for the cook.  She confesses she does not like to cook; she likes to clean, and for that, I am truly thankful.  My husband calls her the core of our family’s sanity.  Right now though he is challenged, for the upheaval in getting the house restored with workmen in and out and the dust that keeps settling and resettling is, as Romney infamously said, disconcerting. Varnetta is pure Gullah, for those who want to hear the real language of our locals.  She does not talk much; she likes to get her work done.  But she will tell you about her upbringing across the “Cuppa” River, the eldest of TEN; which sounds like tan, the proper way in Charleston.  She “had to Towit de wood and de woda”.  They didn’t have “Heit!” or “runnin woda.”

Thank God she is coming in the morning.  I have a tour for a dozen at the white linened table, which I have set with Blue and White Canton Ware of the 1800′s, but she will tackle the dust!

Mincemeat tarts are the tea offering after a hearty soup served in a large tureen that has been in the family.  Okra in moderation is in the soup.  As I serve Varnetta will talk about how her daddy grew okra.  ”Owekra” is said better by her than anyone other Charlestonian, but she will confess she “nava did like owekra”, predisposing everyone to cling to their prejudice against this quintessential Southern vegetable so good for you and a natural thickener without the starch.

I was advised not to tell my readers about my marble counters by an marketiing/computer expert.  But I cannot help myself; I have to thank you because i am truly thinking of you who come on my tour who made this change possible.  Often those who work in the service industry are so used to serving and giving of themselves to make others happy that they do not spend on themselves. I look at it in awe.  The image of a hole in the wall kitchen trying to serve a 5 star restaurant that lost diners sometimes catch a glimpse of behind the scenes is how I have felt about my kitchen.  It still has the original cabinets, but now with a honey glow to the old pine we stripped and varnished.

My tour is at nine and it’s almost midnight.  I hope to see you soon so that I can thank you in person and show you your square inch of my marble counters!

Charleston is Still the Holy City: We Saved Another Church!

On this dark night, there is a light shining  making the hearts of many who look to us in Charleston glad.  The first Greek Revival church in Charleston has been saved from being sold and made into a house and income producing (church) offices, shops  and apartments.  The young and vibrant congregation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church closed today at the last minute on St. Andrews Lutheran Church on lower Wentworth St between Meeting and East Bay.   It was bought from the 16 remaining of the old congregation who had joined another church and want to build a new church away from the historic city.

Many thanks to the people on my tour, especially the 50th birthday friends of Lisa from  Tallahassee, Florida, the first who gave to keep this church a church.  Thank you to others on my tour who wrote checks to Redeemer Church instead of to me.  The congregation is of students at the College of Charleston, medical students, young people and young married couples who have committed to paying the loan of 1.6 million dollars!  That is a big commitment;  that’s what you call a leap of faith!  It’s enough to make anybody want to help.  This is the congregation that will see Charleston and America into the future.  They support with groceries Lowcountry Crisis Ministries; they go and play with the kids of homeless shelter.  They have Cru, young people who walk on the beach to interact with those needing spiritual guidance, the modern takeoff of Campus Crusade for Christ.  They are dynamic movers and shakers, as the church should be, with reports of those reached being given on Sundays.  They also sing beautifully with all those young pure voices.  Craig Bailey is the upbeat, optimistic minister who is so comfortable being completely himself,  trusting in the hilarious favor of the Giver of all good things.  No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly!

If Charleston cannot keep our churches holy, then there is no hope for anywhere else.  The world looks to us to get it right.  We are the City on a hill whose light cannot be hid.  The impossible has happened.  Cheers to all who made the sacrifices and commitments to make this purchase possible.  Now that the property is Redeemer’s, the sky’s the limit on all the ideas they will have time and place to explore.  While this is not my church, I do visit and encourage you to do the same .  The light is shining more brightly this All Hallows Eve in Charleston, pushing back the darkness.  Let me know if you are interested in seeing this church on my tour and I will make a detour as I occasionally do.  It has some of the most beautiful stained glass in the city.  Mayor Riley, who has been mayor of Charleston for 40 years,  as a boy sat under the stained glass window of an angel with arms crossed with his grandmother growing up.  He too has been supportive in wanting to see this church preserved as a functioning church.   Each person makes a difference.

Charleston Voted Top of the World

Today we read in the Post and Courier that international Conde Nast Travel readers have voted Charleston the top destination IN THE WORLD!  Readers judge cities on a five point scale; their composite scores determine the outcome.  Thank you to all who hold Charleston, the Holy City, in that sacred place of your hearts.  Thank you to my friends in Charleston who allow me to bring you, my guests, into their old and historic private properties,  to gain a glimpse behind the scenes, behind the gates and piazza doors,  into a world that can be entered only by invited guests.  Where else in the world is there such hospitality?  God preserve us from that suffocating fear of liability, which is death to our renowned Southern hospitality.

We are humbled by this designation of top in America and top in the world.  Cape Town South Africa is second to Charleston.  Florence, Italy is third.  In the United States, San Francisco is second, Chicago is third, Santa Fe, New Mexico is fourth, New York City is fifth, and Savannah, Georgia is tenth.  ”It’s the history, the restaurants, the historical churches, and the graveyards.  We always find something we have never seen before.”  ”It’s like heaven.”  These are some of the quotes in today’s paper.  The Holy City of Charleston is working her way into people’s hearts across the world.  As the world changes, Charleston matures like an old wine, getting more and more full bodied.  Our Judea-Christian family values make this city the place of depth and heritage it is.  To experience the restaurants and bars and shops is to know only the superficial surface.

The view of Charleston I try to give on my tour is the view we have who have been born and raised here.  I cannot give you any other view than that of a native Charlestonian.  What you get on my tour is the real Laura Wichmann Hipp.  I do not try to be someone I am not; everybody else is already taken.  As an ambassador of Charleston to the world, I try to give you that bird’s eye view of history as it relates to American and European history and to where we are today and where we are going.  If we do not learn the lessons from history, we will be doomed to repeat them.  Our LIBERTY was bought at a price by the sacrifice and patient toil of many individuals.  To understand who and where we are today, we must look back at the patterns of history.  Thank God for Charleston’s creation and preservation, and for all the blessings of this life, but above all for that inestimable love that sets Charleston apart as the Holy City in our hearts.

It’s All About Muscadines This Fall

My tours have been tasting my homemade muscadine grape chutney and jam this fall at our tea parties at the end of our mornings together. My husband and teenagers and friends have picked with me at Irvin Vineyards on Wadmalaw Island. The purple, golden, bronze and green pearls have been picked, squished, deseeded, and made into chutney and jam as well as iced cream in my kitchen, the war room. I am wild about them as I have learned that not only do they have zippy flavor unlike anything else, they are way ahead of all else at the top of the food pyramid of antioxidants. A stray seed is occasionally crunched, but I fret not because muscadine grape seed is being found to have powers, too. The seeds are being made into supplements for antioxidants. Many thanks to my friend Anne Limehouse Irvin at Irvin Vineyard who allowed me to glean freely twice after they picked for their wines. Though made primarily for my husband who loves my muscadine culinary makings, when I find a good thing, I cannot help sharing a taste with my tours.
If you get a chance to go to Irvin Vineyards, the grapes are gone but the wines are not. The vineyards are so beautiful in the wilds of our sea island of Wadmalaw Island. To know Charleston, you have to go to one of our sea islands to understand how we love the land. We inherit that love from our ancestors, as Mr Willy McLeod said of his McLeod Plantation on James Island.

My private tours are busy this fall season. but I do still have open dates that no one has touched. Why do all want the same dates?  The late afternoons and evenings are the best time to try to catch me unless we are at table, sacred family time. Bring out the silver at least in your mind as you head to Charleston to partake in our rich history, culture, and culinary delights of the season. As the world changes, Charleston steeps in its rich heritage into a full bodied wine. Come! Leave me a message for reservations for my 9 a.m. private tour Mondays through Fridays and I will call you back.  You don’t know what you are missing!
–Laura 843-577-5896

Some Things in Life Really are Free

Yippee!  I am slow to catch on, but when I do, I am ON!  The downtown trolley really is free!  I had had the question put to me if it was true.  I could not imagine it was.  Today I went to the Meeting Street Visitors Information Center to get some Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Guidebooks.  The wonderful staff there told me the map has the route and the trolley stops of the FREE trolley bus service.  This service is a gift to Charleston residents and visitors.  I think that means we do not have to buy our teenagers a car!  Isn’t that right?

The other good news is that my vacation rental, which you can stay in this summer,  is a one minute walk from one of the stops on the corner of Ashley and Cannon Streets.  This service saves you either gas money, time, or your feet.  Save your feet for the streets you do not want to miss.  I tell you those on my tour that are musts,  where the streets of Charleston have something to give those who walk them in a receptive mood that will make life forever richer.

Scroll down a few articles to read about my launching a vacation rental.  It has been booked solidly since I started it in March.  I do have openings late this summer and early fall.  I have a big pot in the full kitchen for boiling up a mess of crabs.  We had some last night ourselves with our daughter home from college and a cousin graduating from the College of Charleston.  My vacation rental is also around the corner from a bakery called Sugar.  Warning!  It is addictive, heavenly,  and better than your imagination.  You can take tarts, etc back to your own home away from home and have a tea party!  I have a tea pot and tea and a tea strainer and of course cups and saucers.

Do not miss Spoleto in late May-early June when Charleston comes alive at this world renowned arts festival.  The buildings the oligarchy of Charleston built are still the landmarks used today to make this city have a sense of place and authenticity.  The trolley system will really help during Spoleto and the HCF Spring Tours andPreservation Society fall tours as there are not enough cabs for all going in different directions for the many tours, cultural, visual, and performing arts events.  The CARTA trolleies run from 8am to 8:30pm daily.

Our friend Mariana Ramsey Hay of Croghans Jewel Shop on King, whose picture welcomes all on the back of the trolley bus, says she hops on and off all the time, zipping up and down King St and to her home, which saves her time and money.  I love it!  Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life!

Tours for Birthdays, Weddings, Anniversaries, and Graduations

First thing first: my mother, Marianne Wichmann, a Grand Dame of Charleston, who leads the Charleston Tea Party Walking Tour, (843-722-1779) is having her birthday in April.  EVERYBODY wants to know how old she is.  She is young enough still to be vain about her age and would murder me if I told anyone how old she is going to be this month.  (But if you promise not to tell and promise to go on her tour, I will tell you this much of this best kept international secret.  She soon will be celebrating one of the last years of her seventh decade.  Shhh!)

The reason I dare to share this much personal information on my beloved mother is because I want you to come on her tour A, to celebrate  her  and to cheer her on.  My English mother had the good sense to  marry a Charlestonian and to have me born here in Charleston, The Holy City By the Sea, over a half century ago,  one of the biggest blessings of my life.  As Mr. Willie McLeod of McLeod Plantation said, she was a brave woman to leave family, friends, and her native land of England to come here to the unknown.  My father had bought a classic wooden sailing yacht in England, a dime a dozen in the 1950′s, and met her at the  Burnham -on-Crouch Royal Yacht Club near where he was restoring his boat in dry dock.  She proved to be a tireless worker AND a match for Ingrid Bergman.  Never has she lost her essential beauty or her industrious spirit, though her speed has slowed to the pace of ordinary people now.

Why do I want you to come on my mother’s tour over my own private tour? Because  I do not want you to miss it!  I want to give her the gift of your company, because she feels MOST ALIVE when giving a tour to more than two people.  It is her raison d’etre.  I want these remaining years while she has the health, vigor, and  faculties to be her best years in her tour business.  She does not do computers.  Neither did I until Delia’s Godfather, Dr. Daniel Massi, went off to Honduras to be a missionary pathologist.  He said I would not be able to communicate with him without doing emails.  Then entered friend King Midas Cooper Ray, who came over when I was dead in the water with only paper advertising and my over 20 yr old business name Tea Party suddenly having another connotation . “What!  You don’t have a web site?  Where’s your computer?”  Upstairs we went and emerged in no time with a wordpress website on which I have been writing ever since.

Where would we be without friends and family?  My mother is not of this world; consequently, it is up to me to tell you she is worth it!  Her tour is $25; (mine is $100).  Hers is a walking tour for small groups ending with an invitation to Tea in her little garden South of Broad.  She gives you the essential tour of the heart of the old walled city area.  EVERYONE SHOULD DO TOUR  A  WITH MY MOTHER  BEFORE MY TOUR B. 843-722-1779

SPECIAL OFFER FOR COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON AND CITADEL STUDENTS:    (843-577-5896) I am very busy many days this spring with tours for special groups from those celebrating birthdays to weddings, anniversaries, and graduations, however,  I will take College of Charleston and Citadel students for free when accompanied by their parents or 2 paying adults.  Why?  Because I am a grateful, successful College of Charleston graduate, who wants to insure that the students GET the essentials about Charleston history before leaving college life.  I was blessed to work for Historic Charleston Foundation during college, thereby receiving a dual education and strong foundation from the ground up.   I breeze through the College of Charleston often on my private tour in my van.  The College of Charleston was founded by Bishop Robert Smith on the Glebe, the lands of the church given by colonist Affra Coming to St. Philips, thus St. Philips Street;  Glebe St ;  Coming St; and Smith St.

I am grateful to my mother who has been there for me all my life as the most devoted mother,  friend, grandmother to my three teenagers,  and coworker.

Call Marianne Wichmann  for reservations for the Charleston Tea Party Walking Tour– 843-722-1779.

Christmas in Charleston

“The advantage of doing ones own praising is that you can lay it on just so thick and in all the right places.”  I am the biggest fan of my food, Christmas dishes at my house.  It is midnight.  I served duck today that my 16 year old friend Richard Hanger shared with me from his shoot at Coosaw Plantation with his friend, Bolton Sanford.  A true Charleston man loves the land, being one with God and nature, and showing he is a provider.  I sauteed the duck in butter and Madeira with shallots and then added my calamondin marmalade from our home grown citrus grove in the front garden.  Wow!  I invited Richard’s family over tonight for the remains of the day and the kill, since it was his offering.  His mother, Monti, did not know what to do with it; I got lucky as it was passed on to me.  I served it with Carolina Gold Rice, which sells for its weight in gold,  precious stuff, grown on a limited scale on only a few plantations in the Lowcountry more as a hobby.

After dinner and our family friends helped me reset the table for tomorrow.  I made Lobster Newberg and more Carolina Gold Rice.  This dish is a Christmas special with cream, vermouth, and brandy combined with a lobster broth reduction.  If you are not coming at Christmas time, don’t get your hopes up.  I do not cook this rich a luncheon every day.  I am using the Doubleday Cookbook receipt, the second one, which is richer.  I cannot tell you how good it is.  You will have to try it for yourself.

For those who read my Thanksgiving entry, the Mars Hill College football player and family DID come on my tour.  It was a joy to treat them to the gift I had offered.  Mills Adams is a sickle cell carrier and was in the paper for “playing with fire”.  His team made it to regional championship games for the first time in 20 years.  Before the words were out of my mouth on South Carolina’s history, Mills would be saying it for me.  It is incredible how much he loves his State’s history.  He is a history major and had NEVER been in Historic Charleston houses.  ”You have no idea what this means to me,” he kept saying.  His mom, a former history teacher, and teenage brother came, too.  They are descendants of Robert Mills, Charleston architect of the first Fire Proof Building and the Washington Monument in DC, among others.

Husband Preston this afternoon cut HUGE branches of calamondin oranges–JUST what I need before Christmas–more projects!  I will be up to my eyeballs in making calamondin marmalade, as if I have not made enough already!  Everybody wants some though;  it goes out the door as fast as I can make it.  I bought  baler jars from Italy, which add to the beauty of this locally grown golden product.

Our Christmas baby daughter is turning 14 December 22, with a family birthday tea party here, followed by Christmas Eve Dinner here two days later before she sings in St. Philip’s choir  for Midnight Mass.  Sleep time now!  I can’t wait to meet the next group of people tomorrow–oops this morning!

May your days be Merry and Bright–Laura

Opportunities to Make Others Thankful

Yesterday I broke routine to receive a phone call from someone to whom I had written a letter because of an article in the Post and Courier.  Later his mother called to thank me for my letter her son had just read to her.  I am thankful for the boundless opportunities provided by our reporters to step into someone else’s shoes and not only to be thankful for what we have in contrast but to make a difference in the lives of those in our Charleston community we read about in our newspaper.

 Everyone feels compassion, the kindness of a stranger for victims of tragedy and life’s sudden reversals.  Feeling compassion does not make you a compassionate person; it is acting on that heart tug that can make the difference.  We think, how can I make a difference with my little mite, but if we follow through with that urge and mustard seed of an idea, we can change the course of someone’s day, and perhaps someone’s life.

 I read the article on Mills Adams at Mars Hill College in the Sports section, to which I rarely turn.  It was lying open on the kitchen counter when I came down to cook breakfast for the family and caught my eye with its title of “It Feels Like I’m Playing with Fire”.  I learned that whites as well as blacks can carry the sickle cell trait as Mills does.  He is living his dream of playing football for college, despite playing with fire with the risks associated with being a carrier of sickle cell.

 I wrote him that I had a heart for those with this ailment from my association with the late Albertha Stokes, the beloved Gullah Flower Lady on the corner of St. Michael’s Alley and Meeting.  Though her baskets were not the most impressive, I always encouraged my tours to buy from her because her heart was always in songs and spirituals.  We loved each other so. She would bake me lemon cream cheese pound cake for my teas parties in appreciation, telling me after many years, that my support made a difference in the care she was able to provide for her daughter, who she said had “the sickle cellemia”.  This daughter would eventual pass away before her mother and father. 

 I also wrote Mills that I would like to offer him and his family a complimentary tour of Charleston, enclosing a signed gift card for my tour business, which has always been my career.   

He said I had no idea how much this letter and offer meant to him, that he was a history major, and though from the Charleston area, he had NEVER been in ANY historic houses of Charleston.  He had always wanted to see inside some and learn the history, but he dared not even mention it to his mom, because as a single mom, he says, she trys so hard to make ends meet for her two boys, sacrificing her own needs. 

 When his mother called, she gave me a fleshed out picture of their challenges, struggles, and reversals.  Just an encouraging word to let them know that there are those who care in Charleston meant the world.  The Post and Courier article is what made this connection between us possible.

 I want give money to  either the Coastal Community Foundation or to St. Philip’s and designate that money  be given to help this family this Christmas.  The mom needs to buy a car as she does not have one at the moment.  She also needs help with presents for her boys, one still home in highschool.  There are no life’s extras for them.  It will be a challenge for them to get to Charleston for my tour and for her son to get home from the North Carolina mountains for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But with this mom, where there is a will, there is a way.  She has moved mountains already for her children.

 I do not pat myself on the back.  There are many opportunities I intend to take and miss.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  The important thing, I tell myself,  is to act on the little that is on our heart to do and not to delay a day.  Respond to that still, small voice only our heart can hear.  We each can make a difference in being a city on a hill, whose light cannot be hidden, the best city in America.  Carpe Diem!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Husband Preston Helps with Large Group Tour

A first!  We did it!  With husband’s Preston’s help, I gave my largest private tour yet.  FAUSA, a Federation of American Women who have lived overseas, came on my tour.  Sue and Hugh Ripps came to Charleston earlier to check me out. I rented two vans of 14 passengers with my husband driving one and and with me driving the other.  Charleston native guide and friend, Angie Hewitt Chakeris, gave the tour in Preston’s van as he drove to the private houses and gardens.   We had yet another vehicle, Sue and Hugh’s car filled with  people.  Sue brought along high technology: walkie talkies!  They worked beautifully, a lot better than when my brother Bunky and I had them as children.  They could hear everything I said perfectly as they followed behind me.  That was a first for me which I will invest in for the future!

Dick Bennington, furniture restorer, returned my recaned chairs and loaned me 11 more. Preston took two days off from his office to help me be prepared.   Somehow, we managed to seat  32 people in our front drawing room, which is as wide as the front of our Charleston Double House.  We served lunch and tea with Varnetta’s help and the unexpected help from my father’s lovely wife, Joyce Wichmann.  The FAUSA group also used the occasion seated together in our home to have their meeting.  Their ice breaker question President  Louise posed was  what was the most unusual and favorite dish  they learned to prepare and in what country.  These ladies have lived ALL over the world.  They have had such varied experiences.  Cooking, of course, immerses you in the culture, changing and sealing you forever as a part of that culture.  Gardening abroad does the same.

For Sue, the treasurer and organizer to say those magic words, “It was perfect”, makes all the headache of preparing worthwhile.  Her smile and faith in me are with me still, refreshing me, making me believe I can do it again for others.  I sold them my first freshly made batch of  Calamondin Marmalade as well,  which we served over roasted pumpkin cake,  and used the proceeds to treat our family that night to the movie, Courageous, an inspirational film for our times.

I wish I could have got to know all the ladies better and to hear all their adventures from the far corners of the world.  They have a zest for life from living abroad, but have not forgot to be proud to be an American.  Thank you to all who were pulling for me in this venture outside my routine of typically touring  small groups of  up to six.  At our Saturday night dinner party with good friends, Preston could talk of nothing else but our tour.  This was a rare opportunity for my man to step into my shoes for a day, breaking routine himself.  He was proud of me!  And I was thankful for him.