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“Redemption?” The taxi driver joked as the early morning darkness filled our cab. I said nothing as the car weightlessly weaved through the quite streets. The emblematic song of honking horns, beckoning sirens and motorcycles bidding their demands to the Eternal City were silenced at 5:30AM. Starring out my window his question embodied my thoughts. Could it be expectations only to see something I had never seen before that brought me out to see the Vatican that morning or was it something else. My young daughter by my side at this odd hour avoiding the masses clamoring for entry that had denied us our last chance to this hallowed ground. Coffee first, always coffee first, asking our driver to drop us at the only Café in sight nearby. Rushing through my order with a sense of being late I asked for my dixie cup “Take Away”and my daughter and I walked with purpose towards our destination. The massiveness of what was unmistakably one of the most majestic buildings I had ever seen came into view as the chill in the air hit my face. Approaching the Basilica, the reality of where we were hit me. There were no deadened commonalities of “awe- struck” strangers sharing our moment with us. I had a sense that we were seeing something much more intimate and alluring and edging closer I heard a voice pierce through the still air. I knew instantly that I had stumbled upon something ageless, ancient, as chanting rang through the darkness. As our steps grew closer a single figure, in the long black robe of a priest, occupied the middle of the abandoned square. Knelled with hands held high and his head facing the heavens as he cried out “Hallelujah, Hallelujah” again and again. The words permeated everything and were palpable down to my core. The hairs on the back of my neck rose up and what felt like thunder against my chest I thought to myself, “Don’t lose this moment.” It was not the time to grab my camera or take a video. It was a moment to be present in. To be with my beautiful little girl and share an experience of a lifetime. As I stood my heartbeat slowed, sounds drowned out, my field of vision honed in and for a moment I was not outside of this place, this once center of the world encasement of history I was a part of it. Is this not why we travel? To become one with the road, to touch and feel something larger than our own back yards and hence bring ourselves back into the fold, redeemed,forever changed and then returned to our true north, home.