Last week, I had the immense pleasure of accompanying my husband on a business trip to Rochester, NY. I had never been, but from the last time that Tracy went, he had me pretty excited about art museums and amazing historic buildings. Before going, I did some of my own research and found a few places that I really wanted to visit, like the Susan B. Anthony house and the George Eastman (of Eastman Kodak) house. Of course, there was the science museum, which is not always my favorite thing, but it was just right across the street from the hotel we were staying in. And on the weekend with Tracy off, we had planned a trip to Niagra Falls. It truly was an amazing adventure of a week, and I am incredibly blessed to be able to make such a trip.
Today while I sat over a lunch table visiting with my friend Brandi, she asked about my trip and I got all excited talking about the Susan B. Anthony house. Before I went, the only thing I really knew about her was that she was the reason women could vote. I had no idea just how deeply involved her entire family was in the human rights movement. I could go on and on about what I learned on that trip about not just her, but also her family, like how her whole family was kicked out of the Quaker church because her family felt so deeply about the abolition of Slavery that even though they were pacifists, her brothers decided the right thing would be to fight in the civil war to free the slaves. Her sister refused the dream job of school principal because they would not pay her the same as a man; when the man that they hired eventually died, they came back to her and offered her the same wages as a man for the position! INCREDIBLE! It wasn't just Susan B. Anthony; it was her entire family! Her house was modest. When her sister bought it, and Susan and her mom moved in, it was just a 2 story home. The three women decided to add a 3rd story as a "work room" for Susan's work. From that room, they put out a news paper had meetings for the suffragettes and so many other things. It was incredible and the energy in that room was palpable! I could feel it. I could see this room of bustling women fighting for our rights. I can vote because of her..because of them! Then back downstairs, on the way out of the house, we stopped in the living room where she was sitting when the policeman came to the door and arrested her for voting in the presidential race for Ulysses S. Grant. When the courts decided to "punish her" with something quiet so the publicity would not fuel the fire, she decided to take it upon herself to take her court papers and show them off. She decided to keep fueling the fires so that we women can vote today. Standing in the room she was arrested in brought tears to my eyes and made me think, "If she was alive today, she would have been standing shoulder to shoulder with me in the Idaho Capital getting arrested for the equal rights of the LGBT".
The other historic house I visited was that of George Eastman, the father of modern day photographer (my words..not theirs). His story is fascinating. He came from a life of privilege and was sent to private schools only to find out, when his dad died, that his family was in debt and could not afford his schooling anymore and his mom (in those times) was not allowed to work. So he came home from school, his mom continued to teach him at home. He went to work for $3/hr to support his family. He decided to go into real estate investment in Santo Domingo and his friend suggested that he take a camera to capture the place on film. When George carried a 50# back pack filled with camera equipment, chemicals to develop the photos, and a tent to use as a "dark room" he decided that photography was not accessible to the every day person, and that needed to change. So he set about creating cameras that made taking picture accessible to everyone. That of course, grew from still life cameras to movie cameras. This made him a bunch of money and he decided to build a gorgeous home on 10 acres of property on East St in Rochester. He didn't want the house to burn down so he had the home reinforced with steel and cement. The home was also use as part of the under ground railroad. Eastman donated millions of dollars (under pseudonyms so no one would know just how much and who was making the large donations to places like MIT). Twice a week, every week, he hosted parties in his gorgeous home, whether he was home or not. The parties happened every week. When his maid told him that the parties should be stopped because the silver was disappearing. He simply told her to put out the cheaper flatware, but to continue to host the parties. His home was beautiful and about 90% of the furnishings were actually furnishings for his home (not replicas). He had 2 organs in hi home so that his home would always be filled with music; he loved music and art. When he realized the acoustics in the home were not "perfect", he hired people to literally tear his house in half and move part of it back and add the exact amount of space needed to create the perfect acoustics in his home. When you look at the outside of his home, you can see where two different kinds of bricks were used for this. He was never married and never had children of his own but his niece and nephew spent much time there in that home. And they would run up and down the hallways of the house. If you opened your heart and really listened, you could stand in the hallways and hear the children giggling while running and playing. It was magical. Eastman loved his niece and nephew and would leave them surprise packages beside their beds; the children would wake up to new presents..for no reason at all. He seemed to be an incredible human being with a huge heart and incredible mind! It was an honor to walk through his home.
I walked to the University of Rochester Memorial Art Museum which was literally down the street..by a block or 2.. from our hotel. The sidewalk in front of the museum was a poetry walk. There were individual bricks with random words or phrases to spark your imagination. There were also whole poems on the sidewalk. It was amazing. This neighborhood was also known NOTA "Neighborhood of the Arts"...there were galleries and sculptures all up and down these streets. It was heaven! When I finally got into the museum, I was moved and inspired. I saw my first original Normal Rockwell. I saw a Matisse (which is quite uncommon for me). The museum started with Portraits, and some of them moved me to tears while others really captured emotions that I just don't know how to put a finger on. There was a section of art that went through art through American history. The details in these paintings were outstanding and unbelievable. They brought forth such emotions...the only way good art can. Some even made me laugh... like the piece of Art thrown into the middle of European Art..it was completely out of place and put there to "start conversation", and indeed it did. By the time I left the museum, my heart was filled to overflowing.
Finally, on Friday, I gave in and decided to brave the Science Museum by myself. Usually, I have my kids or hubby with me. They enjoy this stuff more than me. But I jumped in and played with the experiments, got inside the hurricane wind machine, rode the submarine simulator, climbed the stairs to roll a ball down a fixture that simulated a roller coaster. Then I found the Natural History part of the museum that talked about the Native Americans of the area and how the Europeans treated them. Tears fell down my cheeks. Then I found the part about abolition of slavery and the underground railroad and history about Frederick Douglass who was friends with Susan B. Anthony (who often argued because one felt that the other didn't care enough about the other's fight...but both fought valiantly for human rights.) Again, I cried. It's a good thing this museum was pretty much empty. There was a video of modern day people doing readings from stories written by free'd slaves....I sobbed. Who knew this trip would make me think about history and human and civil rights and compare them to what is going on today in this world right now?
Then there was the trip to Niagra Falls. I will not go into details about this. But I will say, if you ever get the chance to go, make sure to get your passports and go to the Canadian side.. so much better!!!!
The trip with Tracy was amazing. I am so glad I got to go. But while we were gone, we missed Nate's birthday. So the day after we arrived home, we celebrated Nate's birthday, bought a Christmas tree and decorated it. As we were decorating, Tracy handed me one of the hand decorated balls that we did in 1996, before Naomi was even thought about. I bought huge inexpensive plastic balls, paint pens and asked everyone to decorate a ball. Everyone put their names and the year on them. Tracy handed me one that said, "I love you mom". I had never seen it before, I turned it around to see who's ball it was. It was Nick's. I had NEVER seen the message on there before... in all of the years we have hung this ball; yet there it was. Clear as day... a message from Nick.. "I love you Mom". Right after that, the whole family hung up our sparkly rubber duckies that I bought last year. He may not be here in person, but he is here in spirit. Not the same thing, but I'll take what I can get.
Since decorating the tree, I have been feeling "blah". I don't know if its vacation crash, my knee, or just feeling down about not having Nick here. But I have been crying mess for 2 days. It doesn't help that I watched the last show of the original Gilmore Girls. I won't give anything away, but damn if it didnt' have me balling and missing my son even more. And then today, as I was driving to meet Brandi for lunch, I heard Dolly Parton sing "Hard Candy Christmas" and once again, I was a balling mess in my car. I loved that song when I was a teenager, yet I did not have the life experience to truly understand it. I wish I didn't have the life experience to understand it now...but I do, and I cried. And I'm grateful that I was able to meet Brandi afterward and find a way to laugh!
