So close to New York City, yet so far away.  Carol Ann Caldwell, looked over the horizon from the cruise ship she had just boarded.  Somewhere out there in New York Harbor was the Statue of Liberty.  Once again she strained to see the mighty goddess with torch and tablet in hand proclaiming the glory of FREEDOM in this land. 

But where was it? 

In the distance were the tall skyscrapers of New York City, one in particular was exceptionally tall.  She thought maybe that was the new World Trade Center.  She recognized the Empire State building, but there were lots of other tall buildings that she did not know. 

What was a sixty-two year old woman from Ohio supposed to know about the New York skyline?  Carol wished she had a tour guide handy.  Not on this trip.  Her family was taking the do-it-yourself, all-in-one tour.  Carol had set the whole thing up through the internet.  Ed, her husband, was willing to drive the entire five hundred miles from Ohio to New Jersey.  Now they were sitting in the gigantic ship about to leave the dock.  According to all the maps she had studied of New Jersey, they would be able to see the Statue of Liberty from this ship. 

Again she perused the skyline.  So many tall buildings.  Where was the Statue? She looked around.  Along the dock there was a high windowless ship with automobiles rolling out the back, one after another, as if the ship had swallowed thousands of cars. 

Out on the white-tipped waves of the harbor many different kinds of watercraft tilted and rocked.  There were some long flat ships, some with tall white sails, and others with nice wood veneers and nifty cabins with sun-worshipping tourists on board.  They raised their hands and waved to her.  She waved back at them.  There were big metal containers that looked like shoe boxes. The harbor water was sliced by ski jets and racing boats.  Tiny yellow and red kayaks appeared and disappeared around the edges of islands.  But where was the Statue of Liberty? 

Carol had promised the family they would see it from the ship. That was part of the advantage of taking this tour: they could see everything and not get caught up in the horror of traffic or lost in the huge crowds of New York City.  Carol had to admit that she and Ed were afraid of it all. They had never seen so many people in rural Ohio.  But they wanted their grand-children to remember them for this one great adventure.  So it was important that they see the Statue of Liberty soon.

Little Bobbie came onto the balcony with a small camera.  Carol watched as he zoomed the camera lens in and out and snapped the button repeatedly.  She thought about the old days, when she was young and had to judiciously take only a few pictures.  Why waste a whole roll of film, with only thirty-six pictures, on just one location?  But now Bobbie took pictures with total abandon.  Again in earnest, Carol looked around the harbor for the Great Lady.  “Take some pictures over here,” she begged Bobbie. “Now take some that way.”  Where was the Statue?  But before she could find it, the ship set sail.

They were off on their adventure.  At first Carol felt sad.  She had promised them a view of the Statue of Liberty. A promise broken. Yet no one confronted her. There was too much to do and see. The family took many more pictures at each destination.  The nine day cruise breezed by and the ship headed back into harbor.  Carol watched as Bobbie took photos of the surrounding fog. 

By the time the ship docked, the sky had cleared.  It gave them one more chance to see the Statue of Liberty.  She searched the harbor again, squinting at the glare that reflected from the tall glass buildings. It was important.  She was prepared to tell her grandchildren the story of LIBERTY and the fight for FREEDOM.  She had done her research.  She wanted to brag to the neighbors about all that they had seen—this had to include the Statue.  Carol wanted to brag about how well she had planned the vacation, but if they didn’t see the Statue, she had not accomplished what she truly set out to do. The dissatisfaction gnawed at her.

Carol lined the children up on the ship balcony with binoculars and cameras in hand. “A prize to the one who finds it!” she announced.  They strained to find the Statue.  Carol looked again through her tour book.  It was supposed to be right here, to the north of the ship that they were presently on. Where was it?

They could not find it.  Time to grab the suit cases and debark.  Carol had failed.

A week later, she sat at the computer with her cup of coffee, scrolling through the hundreds of pictures Bobbie and the others had taken.  Many were repetitive, some were funny, and some were distorted and blurry.  She could delete a lot and no one would miss them. But none of the pictures were of the Statue and this irked her.

Let me look again, she told herself.  Now where were the photos taken from the ship balcony on the first day?  She scrolled back to the first folder.  She opened the folder of pictures and looked again.  This time she zoomed in, a trick she had just learned how to do with the photo software.   She scrutinized the harbor again.  Look closer, she thought.  Look for what?  She turned to her guide book.  Yes, that long green arm holding up the torch.

What? What was that light green shape there in the middle of a conglomeration of ships and warehouses, skyscrapers and apartment buildings?  She moved the picture up and down.  A lean green arm with a torch lifted into the air.  Yes, that was it!  The Statue of Liberty, they had seen it after all, but they could not recognize it among all the other structures.  How small it seemed.  The icon of LIBERTY and FREEDOM was dwarfed in the arcade of business and global trade.  She would have to show this to the grand-children.  Bobbie had captured it numerous times.  Now she could hold her head high and tell the neighbors that she had taken her family on a cruise and that they had seen the Statue of Liberty.  Let freedom ring!