We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident

I put on my history geek hat this afternoon.

It was to accompany Holmes to the Virginia Historical Society to see a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence that blew through Richmond from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today only.

It's one of only 26 known original print copies, created from Thomas Jefferson's original draft on the night of July 4, 1776 by a printer named John Dunlap.

The printed copies were then sent out to the 13 colonies, King George of England, natch, and to General George Washington for reading to the troops.

This particular copy was found in a flea market in Philly back in 1989, purchased for four bucks and subsequently sold for a cool million.

That's when TV producer Norman Lear offered an even cooler $8.1 million and bought the copy we saw today.

Since then it has toured the country for Joe Average types like us to ogle.

It was actually pretty cool, imagining that broadside (large poster) as part of the fuel that ignited the new nation.

This is why I'm a history geek.

My first impression upon seeing it, based on my publishing background, was what a pain in the arse it must have been to set all that tiny type.

Holmes' first reaction, being the financial type that he is, was how badly screwed on taxes must have been the guy who paid a million for it and sold it for eight.

Lunch at Ariana's in the Devil's Triangle followed.

My choice was a big old Italian sub and Holmes got the Philly Steak Deluxe (perhaps in deference to the Declaration's printing locale).

Neither of us could finish these overly large subs on large scale plates, but we did our best.

My Italian was stacked almost too thick to bite with meats and cheeses and Holmes' PSD dripped ooey-goodness with every bite.

Our window table afforded us a great view of the changing weather; we saw scary black skies to the north, horizontal rain during a period of bright sunshine and wind bending trees in half.

We also commented on the incongruity of outside patio diners across the street and walkers in shorts only a week after it was coat weather.

We saw assorted Zombies on their way to Carytown for the Zombie walk.

But mainly we saw a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed on July 4, 1776.

An astute reminder that we're still seeking to reach that goal of "all men are created equal" in 2009.