I'm Pretty Sure

Yesterday Big was studying for his Social Studies quiz. If you live in SC and you're in 3rd grade, you have to learn about SC history. Chapter 8, Lesson 2 & 3 are all about the first shots of the Civil War. As soon as Big started reading out loud to me, I said "Close your book. Get your shoes and put your tooshey in the car." He looked at me like I had lost my mind but did as he was told.

We drove around the corner to the very, very end of the Island that looks out over the Harbor. You can see all of our little sweet spot on the Earth from that point. From the big diamond bridges all the way to Morris Island lighthouse. In the middle of your view, there she sits... Ft. Sumter.

please forgive the blurry nature of this photo. i am new to the world of iphones.

At first he didn't believe me that we were actually standing from the spot of where the first shots were fired. So I showed him the proof at hand which just so happens to be this...

So I won that one.

We sat there yesterday on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. We looked out over the water and read Chapter 8 Lesson 2 and 3 and learned about how back in those days our Country was divided and at war and how Big and Lil' probably wouldn't have ever come to be as their Daddy was born a Yankee and myself a Confederate. We talked about how slaves and the war are all a part of our family's history and how much suffering both sides endured. We learned about the savviness of Abraham Lincoln and how he set up the blockade which tortured the South and kept those 11 states from taking to or getting anything from Europe and how this strategy eventually strangled all hope that the South could win what we call down here, "The War of Northern Aggression".

I want our children to know where they have come from. I want them to know what it took to get them here. How many people sacrificed, worked and struggled so that their Yankee Daddy and Southern Mama could come together. I want them to know about the great South, the Civil War, and how their Great-Grandparents came all the way from Italy to Ellis Island. You don't know who you are until you know where you came from.

Yesterday was a memory maker; of that I'm pretty sure.