Dear Miss Edwards,

I should have been a better student.  I should have listened harder.  How could I have known back in 1990 to 1993 when I was sitting in your Latin classes in the tiny classroom on the third floor of Sydney Lanier High School in Montgomery, that one day I would actually see all the places you were teaching me about???

Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would actually see live and in person...

the bronze Charioteer of Delphi (from 474 BC)

 or the equestrian Augustus statue

 or (my most favorite of all) the beautiful Caryatids from the north porch of the Erechththeion in the shadow of the Parthenon

 or the original (in both London and Athens) and the recreation of the Parthenon pediment.

I never ever, ever dreamed it would be possible to see these sites with my very own eyes.  

And even better, I could have never possibly imagined seeing them with my 4 favorite people.  What a tremendous blessing to see these historic treasures with my husband and children.  These boys will never have to try to visualize the...

summit of Mt. Olympus or

 the starting line of the ancient Olympics in Olympia or

 the 15,000 seat theater in Epidavros or

 exactly what Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns look like or

 if this is Poseidon or Zeus or

 the hilltop civilization at Mycenae led by their king Agamemnon who headed off to the Trojan war or

 the amazing Parthenon towering above Mars Hill where Paul urged the Athenians to believe in the one true God.

Ethan, Logan and Davis won't have to use their imaginations.  How will that change their educations?  Miss Edwards, if they were to sit in your classroom today, they would understand what you are saying in a completely different way than I could.

So thank you for teaching me all of these things.  There have been many times on this trip where I have thought, " This is exactly what Miss Edwards was talking about!"  

And, most especially, thank you to Scott Bolton.  He is the best vacation planner in the universe!  He has thought of every single detail for every single location.  I have no idea how he does it.  And, as if that is not enough, he has kept us alive in very precarious driving situations.  It is very hard to travel in a land where you can't read or speak the language but he has taken very good care of us.  So thank you, Sidney Lanier, for giving him to me back in 1991.  It has been quite a ride!

Love,

Everlie