Alison Garwood Jones

Gratitude is always my strongest emotion on Sundays. Here’s a reprint of a blog post from last fall.

With my “head full of brains and my shoes full of feet,” good God I’ve travelled to some great places.

A hat tip and a deep bow to my employers, my friends and, above all, my family.

Because of you, meus mirus prosapia, I’ve …

Crossed the same meadows as Yeats.

Looked out the same windows as Marie Antoinette.

Moved along the same asphalt as Terry Fox.

Tripped on the same cobblestones as Mozart.

Motored around the same monuments as Chanel.

Been struck by the same beam of light as a Vermeer model.

Picked the same flowers as Van Gogh.

Turned the same doorknob as Dr. Johnson.

Gripped the same banister as Franklin Roosevelt.

Slid across the same marble floor as Michelangelo.

Been slammed by the same surf as Greg Brady.

Climbed the same mountain as Paul Cézanne.

Drunk wine in the same cellar as Napoleon.

And nursed a pint in the same pub as Frank McCourt.

And it doesn’t end there …

I’ve also dined in the same steakhouse as Al Capone.

Studied in the same library as Hillary Rodham.

Warmed my hands at the same hearth as Frank Lloyd Wright.

Pushed open the same screen door as Lyndon Johnson.

Driven around the same rally grounds as Hitler,

And shivered with fear.

I’ve marched down the same aisle as Lady Diana.

Dabbed on the same fragrance as Oscar Wilde (the original Eau de Cologne).

Gone to concerts in the same halls as Strauss and Caruso.

Booked into the same hotel as Charles Dickens.

Lived in the same neighbourhood as Obama.

Dashed down the same side streets as Victor Hugo.

Crunched along the same pebbled paths as Rudyard Kipling.

Stood on the same muddy field as George Washington.

Stretched out on the same plain as General Wolfe.

Stared into the same mirror as Anne Frank.

And placed a flower on the same grave as Jacqueline Kennedy.

Still to come: India, China, Japan, Africa and Australia. Oh! The places I’ll go — I hope, I hope!