Little Rock

I love weather.  Especially when it’s changing!  Finally we got a little taste of spring just as we were leaving for a speech in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dad grabbed this picture in the rear view mirror.  Pretty cool.

 

Little Rock, as you will remember is the home of the Clintons and as soon as we saw the “Marching Ducks” (live trained ducks marching on the red carpet…go figure… to one of John Phillip Sousa’s marches at the Peabody Hotel where we were staying), I headed for the Clinton Library, just about 10 blocks up the street.

It was a fascinating look back at history that seemed as though it just happened but was actually quite a few years ago now.

It is also the home of Harriet Tubman, the great black heroine during the Civil War. Below is the plaque affixed to the memorial in her honor:

 

Having just finished a terrific book called The Help about a young white woman journalist chronicling the lives of several white families and their African American maids in Jackson, Mississippi during the time of Martin Luther King, it was just fascinating to hear those wonderful southern accents coming out of the mouths of the wives who came to the event. None of them had read it…being completely overwhelmed with just taking care of their kids. Only one mentioned that she had a black maid.  It is a great book if you have time to read it.

Our hotel room was overlooking the Arkansas River and for the core members of Eyrealm, you can appreciate the words and music from Big River constantly running through our minds.  I challenge you to see these words without the music popping into your mind…maybe for the rest of the day.   “Arkansas, Arkansas, I just love old Arkansas!  Love my ma, love my pa, but I just love ol’ Arkansas!”  Here’s the view of the the big river from our room:

   

We had a fun event last night at a children’s museum

 

and then another one this morning for breakfast to talk more about specifics. These YPO people are really great parents, just trying their best to be better.  They have really blessed kids as well as sometimes really hard kids…just like everyone else!

Home to the Tabernacle Choir benefit concert for Westridge Academy tonight. Our formal clothes are in the car and we’re excited to be there with the Carvers and about 1000 other people!