Weekend Adventures: Dallas, TX

My journey to Dallas began when I was about 7 years old.

I still remember sitting in the living room with my dad watching television.  It was almost my bedtime, and the news was just starting.  They were showing black and white pictures and films of President Kennedy, and talking about when he died.

I asked my dad an innocent enough question, “Dad, why are they talking about that on the news?”

His reply would shape the rest of my life: “Well, son, they’re not sure who killed him.”

Imagine my surprise.

Even at 7, I was already reading books about history and government, and my young mind attempted to grasp the importance of the information my dad had just told me.  “How strange is it,” I thought, “that we know all this stuff about history and we don’t know for sure who killed our 35^th president?”

A national dialogue had been seriously revived that year, and the curiosity of a young boy was captured for a lifetime.

It’s one thing to study historical events; walking the ground where they took place is a whole different experience.  So of course when Rachel told me she was heading to Dallas for a training conference and asked if I wanted to go with her, my enthusiasm was palpable.

Walking into Dealey Plaza for the first time was a bit surreal for me.  Even having studied maps, diagrams, photos, and films, it was still striking how unique the layout and geography of the plaza is.  The rest of the downtown area is incredibly flat, so the various inclines in Dealey stand in stark contrast.

I felt a bit like a tour guide as I walked around with Rachel, telling her the story of the November 1963 motorcade and pointing out what happened where.  I showed her many of the places most people don’t know about, and numerous places the real tour guides weren’t headed.  As we stood in the grass on Elm Street, we saw an older gentleman followed by a film crew walk into the middle of the street pointing at one of the Xs marked on the road.  This was not an unusual occurrence, as we’d seen hordes of tourists rushing into traffic to snap selfies throughout the day, but this man in particular was different.

Much to my surprise, it was Robert Groden, one of the leading experts on the photographic evidence of the JFK assassination who was an advisor to the House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970s and a technical advisor to Oliver Stone for “JFK,” was signing copies of his books and films on the grassy knoll.  I hadn’t recognized him without his beard.

There was a surprising amount of people there for a drizzly Sunday afternoon.  A professional expert, amateur experts like myself, and plenty of tourists interested in one of the greatest “whodunnits” of modern history.  We all shared a kinship in that place of pilgrimage, and I felt encouraged that the national dialogue of modern history is going strong.

I also felt thankful to have Rachel there with me to experience it with.  I often feel like I am good at being present, at taking things in and being still in order to listen to what my surroundings are telling me.  But when I get excited about something, or when I want to walk around and explore, I sometimes forget to stop and smell the roses.

We sat on the steps in front of the colonnade near the grassy knoll for quite some time.  We watched.  We listened.  We closed our eyes for a moment and let the breeze of the afternoon take our minds away for a few moments.  We enjoyed our time together.

The mystery and mystique of the tragedy that occurred in Dallas so many years ago will forever fascinate me, and it never ceases to be an astounding and humbling experience for me to walk in the great places of our past.  It’s also a wonderful feeling to be able to take a moment, to take everything in, and feel a connection with your surroundings and those you are with.

I want to do that more often.

~ Greg (& Rachel)