Boying.
When I was young, my Dad used to take me Boying. Dad would say, let's go Boying
on Saturday or Sunday. From that moment till we left, I anticipated our
departure.
Sometimes we went to a Park, a Museum, or his office at the Pentagon.
Sometimes we had breakfast at a Great little Breakfast spot or Lunch at a
classic place like Harveys in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C.
Note:
Boying does not involve shopping.
..Though, I have one clear memory of stopping
into one of those shops on skyline drive. We called them a "Wayside," and him
saying, you can pick out one thing. I chose a small plastic black Bear, iconic in the park. It sits on my bookshelf today.
The Crane
One "Boying" morning, My Dad
said, let's go see "The World's Largest Crane." He had read that it was working on a project in
downtown D.C., and in those days, downtown Washington was pretty quiet on a
Sunday morning.
Frankly, at that time, downtown D.C was a small town. So off we
went early Sunday morning to catch sight of this marvel.
Traveling down the
George Washington Parkway, Potomac river on the left with much anticipation in
my chest.
How Big is it? Big Really Big, It's the world's most giant crane, it's
like the 8th wonder.
We passed the Pentagon and hung a left into town. Dad knew
Washington fairly well and had even lived there as a kid for a while, Not far
from Dupont circle, so he navigated us around the many construction projects in
the growing District until we saw it- The world's Largest Crane.
We were able to
park across the street. The construction site was open, so we walked on the site
and close to the crane. We walked up to it. I touched the enormous treads. The
feel cold steel and massive industrial equipment is hard to forget; we would
have needed a ladder to operate the beast. We lingered for 20 minutes or so, and
then he said, let's get breakfast.
Today was the pinnacle of "Boying," I
thought.
Dad started the car and slowly moved away from the site of the crane.
And then:
As we rounded the building, there it was - ANOTHER CRANE. This crane was
three times the size of the one we just saw. This other crane had a huge banner
attached to the top that draped down to the earth. The banner proclaimed, "The
Worlds Largest Crane"
The building site was fenced off, and the visitors could
only see the "World's Largest Crane" through the fence from 20 or so yards away.
There were cars everywhere, and thirty or forty people clamored around the chain
link fence gate where a sign extolled the impressive stats of the crane.
I
looked at my Dad
He looked at me and asked, Do you want to go see it"
I said,
not really.
You see, I had already seen the world's largest crane. , With My Dad.
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