We had the most delightful day yesterday. Mr. FixIt had to take it easy after his procedure on Friday, so he was banished to the Big Red Chair. I finished the Dragon Scale Gloves. If you can read knitting, you can see a couple of errors, but to the untrained eye…they are quite passable. I’m sure they’re going to love them! I certainly had more fun making these than I’ve had knitting in some time.
We were looking for something to watch yesterday afternoon. Something we would both enjoy. Mr. Virgo and I used to watch all the civil war films and documentaries and it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. We decided on Gettysburg. One of these days, I’d like to go there and see the battlefield myself.
Mr. Virgo told me a story about going there with his Boy Scout Troop as a young boy. The group was on a walking tour, heading down a dirt road, looking for a burial site. The fathers were scanning the area, checking their maps and trying to get their bearings. At some point, Mr. Virgo walked over and tugged on his dad’s sleeve.
“Dad, they’re buried down over that ridge.”
“I’m sorry,” said his dad. “What do you mean? How could you possibly know that?”
“Because, I was a soldier and I was here.”
Everyone looked at him like they’d seen a ghost, but they took his direction and walked over the hill. Sure enough, they found what they were looking for. Mr. Virgo was like that. He just “knew things.” No explanation. Later on that day, the troop came upon a white house with a large front porch. A woman stood on the porch and greeted the boys.
“Come! Come! Sit here on the porch and have some lemonade and cookies and cool off. My husband will be along shortly to talk to you boys and tell you what happened here,” she said.
The boys did as they were told and were enjoying their refreshments when they noticed the fathers suddenly standing up and saluting. A kindly man in period dress came out and greeted the visitors before settling into a rocking chair. He regaled them with stories of who had lived in the house and what the battle was like at that particular spot. After and hour or so, the gentleman bid them farewell and headed back into the house.
On the way home, Mr. Virgo asked his dad who the man was.
“Son, that was General Dwight D. Eisenhower…the former President of the United States.”
It was a memory that he cherished his entire life. Those men…our father’s generation…were called the Greatest Generation. They were the men who fought in World War II and Korea. They saved the world from the devastation wreaked by Hitler…a man intent on conquering the world and becoming the ultimate ruler for all time. I pray we have learned from that era.
I was an extra in a movie back in the ‘80s. I have a pretty good understanding of the logistics that go into a cinematic production. The logistics of the film Gettysburg is a marvel. That last battle scene with hundreds and hundreds of people fighting is incredible. And to think what it must have been like for our great grandfathers who fought in the Civil War. It’s unbearable to think something like this could happen again.
I pray there will be a day where there is no more war this side of heaven.
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”“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”“
John 16:33 NIV