More Office Art

Not much time today to go out on a blip hunt, so I whipped out the little camera and pointed at this poster hanging in my office.

It's a bit more than just a neat poster to me. The ship pictured in the middle is the Berengaria, and in 1927 my mother amd grandmother sailed on it from Europe to the U.S. returning home from a year-long tour of France and Norway -- my mother was 17 years old. The trip was a highlight of her life (duh). Who wouldn't love meandering through Europe at that age especially since my grandfather sent money whenever they needed it and they traveled First Class. Ah, the good old days when the family had money.

Anyway, the icing on that particular cake was the fact that they were in Paris when Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget airport on May 21. While my mother didn't see him land, she did see the Spirit of St. Louis the next day and saw the parade in Lindbergh's honor. Talk about a thrill! She recounted that adventure many times during her life.

On the opposite wall of my office I have a framed copy of the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune that they brought back with them. The headline reads "Lindbergh Now Speeding Alone Toward Paris -- Daring 25-Year Old Aviator Due at Le Bourget Tonight -- Great Paris Reception Ready". Imagine! 25-years old, flying all alone across the Atlantic in a tiny, fragile plane that was basically a flying gas can. I saw the Spirit of St. Louis at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and frankly, it looked as though it would disintegrate if you sneezed hard enough in its direction.

I gotta say -- it took guts to do what Lindbergh did. He was always a hero to my mother. Fortunately she died before any of the unpleasentness of his personal life became public. I doubt it would have dimmed his light in her eyes though since she was a part of that amazing moment in history at such a special time in her life.