Kings and Paupers...

In my post about our trip to Chris and Kelly's last weekend I mentioned we took a break in the nursery painting and visited the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Now before I go any further, please do not think of me of some deep, intellectual person that lingers in or around places of higher education. I am not deep or intellectual. Nor am I a historian. I have given birth and a happy childhood to one, but I am not one myself. Because Chris is very passionate about his field of history, he sometimes shares some of what he learns with me, and as a result I expand my knowledge base by teeny tiny bits. I love it!!

In the Institute we saw some huge sections of sculptured walls of the palace of Khorsabad, that belonged to an Assyrian king by the name of King Sargon II. They were huge, and very well preserved considering the era they were from was around 717 to 706 B.C. That's pretty stinking old. These sections of wall are the actual, real walls that were excavated in the late 1920's. Only three other museums have parts of this wall The Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, The Louvre in Paris, and the British Museum in London. This was very important to me, because I don't like to get too excited over imitations or replicas!!



We also saw some lions that would have graced the walls on the way out of the city of Babylon during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of Daniel in the Lion's Den fame. There were about 120 of these lions that were lined up on this passage way but only two were in the museum. I found it interesting that the paint on these was still very visible. This was also interesting to me to see something that would have been a part the Bible times that I have read and studied about.

I thought about the men that had to do all the carving on that wall and how amazing it was to be there looking at it so along after they had done the work. I also appreciated the fact that all of that was done by hand with very primitive tools.

So as I am looking at all of this, and some of the other exhibits, I start to think.....what would people find from my "palace" over 2000 years from now? Will people know that the one red wall on the side of my family room was very fashionable during its time or will they think I was poor and could only afford enough paint that color to paint one wall?

Will they know that I never liked the laminate floor in the kitchen, but it was practical? When they find the hundred or more cookbooks, will the think I was a chef or catch on to the fact I just liked cookbooks?

How will they explain the multiple jean sizes in the drawers? Will they be astonished at the number of black shoes in the closet? Will my Vera Bradley purses be hung in temperature controlled cases?

Will it confuse them to find the antiques that I have collected and assume that I lived during the late 1800's? That would be hard to explain if they find the antique crock that is sitting right next to the flat screen TV. Will the fact that the washer and dryer is under the house puzzle them?

I don't know what they will find. Or if anyone would even care what some of the junk is that will be left behind. I just hope pieces of my house won't end up in some Midwestern Institute of the University of Tomorrow for all the world to see, especially if I don't get the new carpet I so desperately need.

So I guess there is no more question as to my intellect. It is simple and shallow. But what can I say, that's me and that is what I want my legacy to look like. Simple, sincere and genuine. I suppose it would be an honor to have a room dedicated to my life and all the things I had acquired in it, but who wants thier stuff to go to Baghdad anyway? Not me.