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Vay-K-Shun
Vacation, all I ever wanted
Vacation, had to get away
Vacation, meant to be spent all alone
The last time I was on vacation, I was with my wife and 18-year-old kid. We went to some old Civil War sites, since my child wanted to visit them. I was okay with it, since I enjoy reading about American history, especially on the relationship between the North and South prior to the separation.
But here is the thing- when you are with others, you need to account for their wants and needs also, so if you are somewhere you don’t care about; wanted to go to; or even if it is your second choice; you feel you sacrificed for them.
Since then, I have split up with the wife (hopefully temporarily), and my kid is in college. I need some time away from everything. So, I am going to do what a stranger told me to do.
While the family was in a visitor center in Gettysburg, I wandered the grounds. I imagined the fighting, the pain of injury, the inconceivable soul-anguish of the deaths of so many of their comrades-in-arms. I just stood there, wishing I wasn’t there; but glad I was so I could see where such a horrendous battle took place, if only to get it in my mind.
There was an older gentleman sitting on a bench. He was there when we got to the battleground, sat there when we did the tour…
