Breakers

Breakers. What was once an impressive display of a family's wealth is now a tourist attraction. How time changes things. Brian and I recently went to Newport, Rhode Island to view the historic mansions of the Gilded Age where some of America's wealthiest families once passed the summer social seasons. Listening to the history of these mansions was bittersweet. While the families had beautiful palaces overlooking the ocean made of the finest stone, marble, and gold, their stays were but brief moments of time. Some of the palaces were abandoned, others sold off, some eventually rescued for pennies on the dollar. Today the Preservation Society takes care of these ghosts. Day after day, tourists walk through, peering into the secrets of a society that is long past. We enjoy our visit and return back to our normal lives, for which we should be thankful. For although we don't live with forty servants at our every whim, when it comes down to it, do you want people traipsing through your childhood home, looking into your private life? I'll take God's peace and joy anyday.