Last Moments

Touring Pompeii brought back memories of high school Latin classes.As we learned the language we also read texts that spoke of the people and the culture in Pompeii.

The lives we learned about, the culture that we explored came to an end one day in 79 A.D.

It is hard to imagine what those last days must have been like. Imagine first watching smoke rise from mountain that usually cast calm shadows over your morning.  Picture the surprise of townspeople when this mountain exploded throwing pumas over the rooftops and ancient streets. As you look at the casts of well preserved bodies (and the revelation of real bone) you can almost feel the painful last breaths after inhaling noxious gases. 

Pompeii now holds new memories.  No longer just a town in a story told to enhance the learning of a new language.  Pompeii, for me, is a real place where real people lived and left this world.