Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, started around the time of the Civil War when people wanted to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who had given their lives for their country. So Greg and I decided that it would be appropriate to visit "my" Civil War soldiers at Camp Butler National Cemetery here in Springfield for Memorial Day this year. I call them "my" soldiers because I have researched their lives for the Civil War presentation I give at the Lincoln Home, and I almost feel like I know them.

Camp Butler was originally established in 1861 as a recruiting and training camp for Illinois soldiers. After the Union victory at Fort Donelson, Tennessee in 1862, they decided to transform the camp into a prison for captured Confederate soldiers. A portion of the prison camp soon had to be set aside as a cemetery to accommodate the casualties of illness or the harsh weather. Throughout the course of the war, 866 Confederate soldiers and 766 Union soldiers (who had been stationed there to guard the prisoners) were buried at Camp Butler. It is still a functioning National Cemetery, and it is quite an overwhelming feeling to stand there and look out over rows and rows of white headstones--especially with an American flag by each grave for Memorial Day.

So here is a Memorial Day tribute to some of my Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate:












Isaac Hiner was an 18-year-old farmer from Knox County, Illinois, when he joined the Union Army. He stood 5' 6" tall and had brown hair and hazel eyes. His regiment was stationed at Camp Butler to guard Confederate prisoners, and Isaac contracted smallpox from the prisoners. He died on February 13, 1865, just weeks before the end of the war.












Then we have the Empson brothers, part of the 30th Tennessee Infantry. Thomas D. Empson (left) was born on January 2, 1838, and his brother James R. Empson (right) was born on November 2, 1841. Thomas was married and had a son who was two-months-old when Thomas and James enlisted in the Confederate Army. The brothers were both captured at Fort Donelson and sent as prisoners to Camp Butler.

It is interesting to note that the headstone at Camp Butler says "J. R. Empson," but family letters and other documents indicate that it was actually Thomas who died at Camp Butler on April 30, 1862. There is record of James R. taking an oath of allegiance to the United States at Camp Butler in September 1862. There must be some story as to why the headstone says "J. R." instead of "Thomas," but I have yet to solve the mystery.










Next we have Isaiah Burkett who was born on December 30, 1825, in Missouri. He married, had a family, and later moved to Texas where he left his wife, three daughters, and unborn son to join the Confederate Army. He was also captured at Fort Donelson and sent to Camp Butler as a prisoner. He would die of pneumonia on February 19, 1863.

These are just a few faces from the 1,642 Civil War soldiers buried at Camp Butler. When looking at all of those graves, it's kind of hard to remember that each headstone marks an actual person's entire life. When we got to the cemetery today and saw all of the flags that the Boy Scouts had put by the graves, I wondered what they would have done at the Confederate graves. I was happy to see that in addition to an American flag, each Confederate grave had a small "stars and bars" flag--the first national flag of the Confederacy. Even though I don't agree with all of the principles upon which the Confederate States of America were founded, I think it is important that we remember the C.S.A. as an actual entity for which people fought and died. The bottom line is that all of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War, both Union and Confederate, were Americans. As Abraham Lincoln pointed out in his second inaugural address, both the North and South "read the same Bible and pray to the same God." The America that emerged from the Civil War was a stronger country, ready to overcome any challenge--because compared to the loss of life and devastation of the Civil War, no challenge seemed too great. The Civil War was really when America decided that it was going stick together for the long haul, and I think it is important to remember both sides of the conflict. So as we celebrate Memorial Day tomorrow, let's try to remember the reason for this wonderful holiday--the sacrifices of all American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to today.

Flooding

Soooooo, this is the road I usually take home in the evenings. Needless to say, I did not take my usual route this evening! I did make it to the top of the hill by the underpass shown here, but when I saw the water (and Police), I turned onto a side street. At about 3:15 this afternoon it started to rain . . . and rain . . . and pour. Then at 3:30 we got hit with a severe thunderstorm which brought golf ball sized hail, more rain, thunder, and lightning. It was literally raining buckets. I was in my office at the Lincoln Home Conference Center, and I couldn't even see across the street. My friend Melissa was in one of the other houses in the Lincoln neighborhood, and she called to ask me a question. As we were talking, she said, "Oh wait, I have to go. The Beedle House is flooding!" Turns out a window wasn't sealed properly, so they got about an eighth of an inch of water on the floor. One of the other homes started leaking (thankfully not the Lincoln Home), and then a tree got hit by lightning and fell across the road right by the Lincoln Home. Luckily they stopped tours at this point. It was absolutely crazy. Then on my way home, I saw cars that literally had water up to their windows! A bunch of streets were closed, and my drive that usually takes 10 minutes took closer to an hour.

When I finally made it home, I was looking at some of the pictures people had posted online of the flooding. I saw this picture with the caption "8th and Cook," and realized that is ONE BLOCK south of the Lincoln neighborhood! I recognize those houses. There was a lot of water in the neighborhood when we all left work this evening, so hopefully it hasn't risen THAT much just since 5:00, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow. Luckily the Lincoln Home sits higher than the rest of the neighborhood. They were saying that we got nearly five inches of rain in under two hours. That's a lot of rain!

Behind our condo there is a really pretty wooded area with a stream running through it. Greg got home from work at about 4:00 and noticed that the stream had risen quite a bit. So he went out to take a look at it and literally saw the stream start to wash over the road! There were some construction barriers on the sidewalk, but as you can see from this picture, the barriers washed away. People who live in th neighborhood up above ours couldn't get home until the water went down a bit. The nice field of grass across the street from us turned into a lake--but the water didn't get close to our condo at all. What a crazy day!

Liberation

I am happy to say that the Lincoln Home has been rescued from its dark days of oppression (I think). The past few months have been horrible here, as we have struggled through the reign of a very power-hungry Acting Supervisory Ranger. Said Ranger still works here--he's just not in charge of us anymore, which is wonderful! While I was out in Utah, our new Supervisory Ranger, Barbara, started work. I met her briefly before I left, but yesterday was my first chance to really talk with her. She is AWESOME! I already love her, and I've only known her for one day. When I told her that I don't have time to do everything that I've been assigned, she actually listened to me and did something about it. You mean I don't get in trouble for talking anymore??? How can this be? :-) Our big boss Laura is still in charge, which is scary, but I think Barbara will provide a nice common sense barrier between us and Laura. I just hope that Barbara isn't too nice for the Supervisory Ranger position--I hope she will stick to her guns and not let any of the crazies push her around. I am just really relieved to have a new supervisor. To use appropriate Lincoln terminology, we have been emancipated from our bad situation!

The End of an Era

This evening was the end of an era--the Jack Bauer era :-( Jack Bauer and his comrades have been a regular part of my life for the past five years. The show has been going for eight years, but I was a late bloomer (I did catch up later). Thanks to Rich I discovered the adrenaline rush that is "24" in 2006. Since then, I have anxiously anticipated Jack Bauer's return each January. I was crushed when I heard that this was to be the last season. I won't drop any spoilers in case people have not seen the series finale yet, but I was relieved at how it ended. All sorts of horrible possible scenarios were going through my head all day, and I was glad that none of them panned out. After the two-hour finale when I tried to get up from the couch, I realized that all of my joints, muscles, and ligaments were frozen in place because I had been absolutely glued to the TV and had been clenching all of my muscles. There was a horrible thunderstorm going on outside during "24" which even included nickel-sized hail, but for the first time in my life, I didn't care about the storm :-) I only cared about Jack! So, here's to Jack Bauer--thank you for saving the world tons of times and for giving me something to look forward to each winter. I hope that you return someday, maybe in the form of a movie?

Take Me Out to Utah

On Saturday, May 15, Greg took me down to St. Louis, and I headed home to Utah for a much-needed break from the Lincoln Home. But more important than having a break was seeing my family! Mom was brave to venture up to the airport after all of her radioactive iodine ordeals, and we had a delicious brunch at our favorite place (thank you for introducing us to it, Aunt Karalie!), the Left Fork Grill. Then we went to visit the Barretts. I can't believe how big these three girlies are getting!

It was very nice to go to the 8th Ward with Mom and Dad on Sunday. I was able to see and catch-up with many friends there. Then the Barretts came for dinner, which included some serious playing outside :-) Here are Sid and Grandpa taking a break and eating a tasty yogurt Creamie. Camden has become quite the excellent soccer and football player. I was very impressed with her mad skills.

On Monday Mom and I went to her eye appointment, then we ran a few errands and had a delicious lunch at Rumbi Grill. We took home an awesome fish wrap for Rich--Rumbi's food is de-lish! It was fun to watch "24" at home that evening, just like the good old days. Then on Tuesday we had lunch with our good friend Yevon. On Wednesday Mom and I ventured up to IKEA--probably the coolest store in the whole world! If only there was an IKEA in Springfield . . . . We had a fun lunch there, and then enjoyed looking at all of the neat stuff. We love IKEA!

Also on Wednesday was Miss Riley's preschool graduation! She is probably the smartest preschooler I have ever seen. Here is part of the fan club: Sid, Grandma, and Grandpa. The graduation program included some great singing and even some really big words like "marsupial."

There's our favorite graduate--front and center! She was given the "most artistic" award, which is very appropriate since she is indeed quite the artist. The kids were all cute, but Riley stood out as the cutest of all. On Thursday Mom and I went up to BYU so I could meet with my good friend Dr. Rugh. Then that evening Mom, Dad, and I celebrated Mom's bravery through all of her thyroid issues by eating a little Thai food! We had some Coney's Custard (the best in the world!) for dessert--what a great day and what a wonderful trip to Utah. It was hard to leave on Friday, but I'm glad that Mom is doing better and that I had the chance to spend time with my family.

Mom and Dad got up bright and early to take me to the airport on Friday. Greg was waiting for me in St. Louis, and then we went and had lunch at Pujols 5 Grill--our favorite Cardinals star's restaurant :-) The food was good, but probably the coolest thing about the place was seeing all of the memorabilia. Then it was off to the Cardinals game!

It was a perfect evening for baseball. Every Cardinals game Greg and I have been to in the past has either been too cold (and rainy) or too hot. But Friday night was perfect. Here's our favorite Albert Pujols up to bat. He is so dreamy (don't worry, Greg agrees) :-) The Cardinals were playing the Angels, and it was a pretty close game, until the 3rd inning . . .

. . . when the PITCHER hit a GRAND SLAM! It was soooooo cool. Brad Penny was pitching, and he was kind of having a rough time. At the bottom of the 3rd with two outs, the Angels walked Skip Schumaker to load the bases and bring up Brad Penny (who had a .111 batting average at that point--not very good). But what does he do? He hits it out of the park! Greg and I had never seen a Cardinal hit a home run at Busch Stadium, and it is quite the experience. There were fireworks (I tried to take a picture of them, but it was kind of tricky), and the crowd went absolutely insane. Then the next batter hit a home run too! The Cardinals ended up winning 9-5. It was a great game! The hardest part was getting up and going to work the next day. The first person I ran into was Laura :-( She said, "Oh, you're back. Have you had a chance to look at . . . and check on . . . and finish . . . and coordinate . . . . yet?" Nope--I just got here. Needless to say, it was a long day. Even though it was only one day of work, at the end of the day I felt ready for the weekend :-) Tomorrow I have a job interview at the Lincoln Heritage Museum in Lincoln, Illinois--keep your fingers crossed for me!