Simply Brilliant

"It's like being in the Penny"

posted by PapaT @ 4:02 PM 0 comments

In The Penny

In the Penny

I was standing at Lincoln's feet in the Lincoln Memorial getting a picture. Even though it was after dark the memorial was full of people. An eleven-year-old girl who I hadn’t noticed, but who was standing nearby, turned to me and said, "It's like he looking right at us, isn't it." She was a complete stranger to me, but had lively brown eyes and a look on her face that suggested she was really enjoying her visit to the Lincoln Memorial.
I said, "It sure does. I think he was the greatest American that ever lived."
She said, "It feels like I'm in penny." I gave her a puzzled look and she went on, "I used to look at the Lincoln Memorial on the back of pennies through a magnifying glass. You know you can see Lincoln in there. But now I feel like I am in the penny."
That was such a wonderful thing for an 11 -year-old girl to say. I asked if I could take a picture of her in front of the Lincoln. She smiled a little embarrassedly and said hesitantly, “I don’t think my dad would want that.” I understood and respected her answer although I was disappointed. I wanted something to remember her by. Not wanting to end our meeting yet I told I had eight kids. She asked me their ages. She wondered if I had one who was eleven like her. I found out her name was Kimberly and she was from Indiana and had three sisters. I would have enjoyed talking to this happy, intelligent Kimberly more, but her mother apparently was worried about her daughter talking to a strange man and suddenly appeared and put her arm around her and took her away. I did get a picture of her, though, when her mother was getting a picture of her in front of the Lincoln. In the picture she is looking right at my camera and smiling.

posted by PapaT @ 3:57 PM 0 comments