This Memorial Day was special for me. In the past it has always been about parades and barbecues– and enjoying a long weekend with my family. I would watch clips of memorial services on the news, and I would appreciate the tributes both nationally and locally. However, I never felt a true connection until I discovered that I am directly related to a soldier from the Civil War.
My great, great grandfather Florence Burke fought as a Union Soldier for the Massachusetts 37th Regiment. He left his young wife and three children to serve his newly adopted country. What’s more he spared the life of a wealthy man, taking his draft and heading to the battlefields in exchange for a parcel of farm land. He took a gamble with his life.
You never know what you’ll find in your attic. When my parents moved to Hawaii for my father’s position as head of school, they left several cardboard boxes of their belongings. I never touched them or thought about them until my daughter came home from school and said she needed a photo of me from my elementary school years. I remembered my mother said the stored boxes were mainly old books and family albums.