Yesterday was hot.  Really hot.

My Chief of Staff Kathy, her husband Bruce and I spent all day at the Town of Vienna July 4 Festival where we staffed a booth, along with Delegate Mark Keam.

Folks came by at odd intervals to visit us.  But it's fair to say that nobody was moving quickly.  In fact, it was so hot that I saw a dog chasing a rabbit -- and they were both walking.

Around 2:30 p.m., I found myself irresistibly drawn to the Post 180 American Legion Beer Tent, in the shade by the Vienna Community Center.

One 16 oz. cup later, life didn't seem as hopeless.

While knocking back the icy cold beverage, I had a great conversation with Bob Hatter, President of Post 180.  Bob and his wife Martha are the kind of folks that are the backbone of a community but don't make a big deal about it. 

Bob was telling me his history as a young soldier in West Germany during 1961, when the Berlin Wall went up.  When the message came that there was activity on the Russian side, Bob and his unit were mobilized and sent to Berlin via the Autobahn, which cut right through Soviet-controlled East Germany.

Bob and his unit got to the scene to watch the Soviet and East German soldiers actually building the wall.  Not content with watching the injustice unfold, the young Americans began heckling the other side.  Some U.S. soldiers actually threw pieces of concrete and mortar across the dividing line.  An actual firefight seemed imminent.

Cooler heads (and officers) prevailed and the incident wound down without any shooting.  The wall stood in place until 1989, when the people of Berlin themselves tore it down.  I was a senior in college that fall and will never forget it. 

Anyway, it's amazing what you can learn when you buy a beer on a hot day.