Yesterday I got to go see the movie "The Conspirator" with my good friend Melissa. The sad thing was that yesterday was Melissa's last day here in the Springfield area, as she is headed off to Richmond, VA for a new job. I'm excited for her, but really sad to see her go. So we had one last hurrah yesterday and went to see the movie. It was interesting, and, as a movie it was very good--but as a history lesson it wasn't so good. Melissa and I cracked up at the end of the movie because there seemed to be a lot of people in the theater who were really shocked when Mary Surratt was hung. That's kind of like being surprised that the ship sinks at the end of "Titanic." The movie really does try very hard to make you think that Mary Surratt was innocent and treated unfairly, but it didn't change how I feel about her. The way I see it, there is no way that she didn't know what J.W. Booth and the others were meeting about at her house--in fact, she was probably in on the planning. But we could tell that pretty much everyone in the theater was falling for the movie--there were tears for Mary Surratt and angry noises for Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (not my favorite person, but not THE devil as the movie makes him out to be). One thing that the movie did get right was that John Surratt, Mary's son, was a big jerk. I think that if John had turned himself in, his mom would not have been hung, but he just went into hiding until after his mom was executed and then he fled the country. While his mom was far from innocent, I think that John was more a part of the assassination conspiracy than she was. But anyway, it was just fun to see a history-based movie at the theater--especially one involving Lincoln!Yesterday evening we all went out and had a fun farewell dinner for Melissa. The food and the company were both great, but it was sad to say goodbye. I hope that she has a great experience in Richmond! On Tuesday I am heading out to Utah for a three week trip to help Mom and Dad get ready to move and to help Sarah take care of her kiddos while she's teaching a class at BYU. I am so excited to see everyone, but sad to leave Greg behind. Luckily he has the animal children here to keep him company. Happy Easter everyone!
