Snapped this when returning to Union Station in Washington yesterday to meet a few friends at Thunder Grill.

It was an overcast, bleak winter day with just enough light rain coming down to get you wet. For whatever reason this inscription caught my attention, and I stood outside staring at it for a few minutes as travelers passed by. I’m not sure of the provenance of the inscription, but it spoke to me relating to place.

When we leave the places we’ve lived and love, we’ve got to have some sort of meaningful acquaintance with them if we hope we have a meaningful experience of any other place. I think of the little Neshaminy and woods near where I grew up. I think of the suburbs that scratched themselves across Bucks County with friends dotted in some of them, and the sides of the road I would walk to visit them. I think of the smells of the houses in Ocean City during the summer. These are just the flickering highlights of memories that burn more deeply and personally that I’ll share here.

The more knowledge you retain about the places you’ve been, the more likely you are to learn something of the places you go.