If you stand in the center of the Pantheon, staring up at the blue Roman sky through the round eye in the ceiling 142 feet above you, it’s hard not to feel awe. Two thousand years old, the structure is still as sturdy as the day it was completed. A masterwork of physics and architecture, its dome was the largest in the world for thirteen centuries, measuring 142 feet across. When I lived in Rome, I would often go to the Pantheon and lean against its massive Corinthian columns. There is a calmness you feel, standing in its shadows. Despite the constant bustle of tourists, tour guides shouting out their facts, and Roman seagulls squawking for the next morsel of bread, you can rest easy knowing you stand under a structure that has withstood barbarian invasions, earthquakes, and thousands of years of rain, sun, and wind.

Today, on a cold New Hampshire Sunday in late March, I’m standing under the rafters of another structure that gives off such a sense of stability.