Out the Window

When we traveled to England 2 years ago we were lucky enough to visit Shakespeare country. While there we visited Mary Arden’s farm the Shakespeare Museum and his house where he grew up.

Now most have not read Shakespeare’s writings or seen his plays; most I know anyway. If you have and have understood them I applaud you, you are far more cultured than me. However visiting these places turned into a one of the highlights of the trip for me, not for my own experience but for what I experienced there.

The above photo is one of my daughter looking out the window of Shakespeare’s bed room at his boyhood home. It looks out at the courtyard behind his house. I am quite certain he spent much time looking out this window given the indents in the floor created over time by the presence of someone standing there.

I did not see it at the time I took the picture but in looking at it later I could and can only ever wonder what she was thinking. Standing on the worn floorboards of one of the greatest writers in the world, what would you be thinking looking out that window?

Of course she made a friend while we were there and went back to see him just one more time before we left.

And her brother wanted to launcher her out of a giant catapult. So all was not lost on a history lesson.

This is why we travel.

Looking out the window of your home is enough for some. I want my children to look out as many windows as they can and think, no matter what they are thinking.

Maybe someday I will ask her.

John