Dreaming Archaeological Dreams

(Pre-script: To get the most out of this post, go down to the playlist and click on the song "A Thousand Winters Melting" By the Myriad. Then come back and read it as the song plays...I'll wait...)
Have I mentioned my great love of archaeology? Because archaeology has been one of my great life loves ever since I was a child. Yes, as young as I can remember, I would rather have watched a documentary about a newly discovered and unearthed prehistoric city than anything else on T.V. I remember telling my friend Lorraine in 6th grade that I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up. That, or a Lawyer. I never really wanted to be a lawyer, though, I just said that because all the girls in 6th grade said they wanted to be lawyers. (I think it's because the mom in the Sweet Valley book series that were all the rage was a lawyer, and she got to wear suits and carry a brief case and everything.) "What's an archaeologist?" Lorraine asked me. Her mom took the liberty of answering before I could, and she said "It's someone who digs up bones. So you must like bones." The very idea was unappealing and boring to both Lorraine and her mother, and I could never quite think of a way to make them understand that they were WAY off. It's not so much the bones I was interested in, it was (and is) the context in which I might find the bones. Like in an urn in an unearthed pre-historic city, or stacked along the walls of catacombs underneath the Coliseum in Rome.
I stopped wanting to be an archaeologist when I realized that most of the time, the things that archaeologists actually do are quite tedious, slow, and boring. I don't have any desire to spend hours sifting through dirt and trying to figure out the date of something. I want to see it after someone else has put in all the hard work to carefully dig it up and figured out what exactly it is. Or was.
My dream vacation would be to go to Italy and take walking tours of ancient Rome. I want the tour guide to pay special attention to point out everything ancient, and don't skimp on the catacombs, please, or the tiny hole in the ground that once served as a prison to Paul. When we get hungry, we can stop for some gelato or pasta, and then keep walking. (We would not gain any weight because we would just be walking all day.)
After Ancient Rome, I want to go to Pompeii. I want to see all of the petrified people, the petrified food that was on their tables, everything. (Hopefully they have gelato and pasta there, too.)
Before coming home, I'd also love to visit The Holy Land. I want to see everything biblical. Or maybe we'd skip the Holy Land part due to fear of religious and political uprising, or suicide bombers. I don't know. Maybe it's perfectly safe there, and I'm just mashing up the entirety of Middle Eastern Countries. Forgive me!
You'll also have to forgive me in advance for this next statement, but I'm going to say it anyway. Y'all, I have no idea if I'll ever get to visit any actual archaeological sites in my lifetime. California isn't exactly known for it's ruins. But maybe when I die, right before my soul goes on to Heaven, God will allow my spirit to soar through those ruins, just to see them one time...and no one would even see me... Or maybe not; I'm pretty sure that the bible says that you are immediately in Heaven with the LORD when you die. Oh, forget I said anything. It was just a crazy thought.

-XOXO,