practically unthinkable

a few years ago, jman spent the weekend with my sister and her family. for some reason, neither charlotte nor myself were able to go with him; so, my parents took him to visit. it may have been ethan's birthday...maybe it was just a random visit. sometime that weekend, jman was introduced to the story of titanic. i think he saw a television program. he told me that after watching that first show he thought, "oh man! i need to learn more about that." when he came home at the end of the weekend, he asked me if i knew about titanic. after answering in the affirmative, he blurted out to me, "why didn't you tell me?" i didn't have a good answer.

i have been interested in the story of titanic for a very long time. it is a story of superlatives. words such as wealthiest, bravest, most opulent, premier, selfless, and heroic find their way into the story on many occasions. unfortunately, so do poorest, cowardice, shame, arrogance, catastrophic, and failure. its name is one that almost everyone knows. it is not the deepest shipwreck, nor is it the foundering that took the greatest number of lives. nevertheless, this is the story that remains brightest in our consciousness because of the grandeur of the ship, the romance of the era, and the idea that although it was branded "practically unsinkable," titanic went to the bottom of the atlantic only 5 days into its initial journey.

by the way, don't even get me started on that piece of crap movie. and if you start to hum that song, i may pour liquid metal into my ears.

last summer, our family went to las vegas. charlotte was going to a convention, and jackson and i went along for the ride. charlotte was scrapbooking, but all i was thinking about was las vegas and the freaking mirage. the mirage is a lovely hotel. we really enjoyed our stay there. we also went to a show at the luxor. we ate dinner at ceasar's palace, the bellagio, and the venetian; but, the highlight of the trip took place at a seedy old-school hotel called the tropicana. last summer, the tropicana hosted a titanic artifacts exhibit. one evening, we walked from the mirage down to the tropicana and took the tour. it was self-guided, and for 25 dollars each, we were able to walk through this collection of materials gathered after nearly 100 years at the ocean's bottom. we saw clothing, personal letters, parts of the ship itself, china, deck chairs, and life belts. the final room (well, the one prior to the gift shop) held the largest piece of the wreckage ever brought to the surface. it is enormous. as such, it has been named "the big piece." it is a 25 x 15 piece of steel, complete with rivets and portholes. there is a photo of the titanic next to the "big piece" which truly gives one an idea of how titanic titanic really was. the "big piece" is highlighted, shown in its original position on the ship - it is a speck in the view of the whole. upon entering the exhibit, each visitor is given a boarding pass similar to those given the actual passengers. on the back of each pass is the name of a titanic passenger or crew member. also included are vital information about "your" individual...age, class of ticket purchased, family, home, occupation, destination in the united states. near the end of the tour, one of the rooms displays the names of each passenger and crew member on titanic's initial voyage. the names are divide into groupings under the following parameters: "passenger or crew"; "1st class, 2nd class, steerage"; and, finally "survivor or lost." one would find the name of the individual indicated on the boarding pass and find that name on the wall. it was kind of a gimmick, but it gave a bit of a personal touch to the viewing of the artifacts. charlotte and jackson survived. i didn't. it was a really great show and well worth the price.

jackson's interest in titanic has never waned. if anything, it has grown. as i write this, he is watching a documentary of a series of dives to the wreckage site. we have seen many of these documentaries over the years. he has a nice little library of titanic books. most are picture books, but a few are chapter books...both fiction and non-fiction. he was given a model of titanic as a gift, which he loves. did i mention that this past april 15th, we had a titanic party at our house. we had cake and explored an awesome and comprehensive titanic cd-rom. that cd is really cool.

he really has forgotten more about titanic than most people know.