On April 9th, the first anniversary of my father's death, Jeff and I headed to Gettysburg with his cremains. It was my brother, Jim's idea to spread his ashes there. I thought it was a good one; my father had been a Civil War buff. We had spent many summer vacations touring battlefields. But for some reason, I had never made it to Gettysburg.
The Gettysburg National Military Park was dog-friendly (except for the cemetery and visitor's center) so we took Spike. Although Jim decided to make the round trip in one day, Jeff and I decided to head down Saturday and return the next day.
We selected the Battlefield Bed and Breakfast for our overnight stay http://www.gettysburgbattlefield.com/ and that was an excellent choice. The B&B was conveniently located and offered delicious breakfasts and complimentary history programs. Our room was large with a sitting area and private bath.
We also liked the town itself. I only wish we had allowed more time to explore it and to enjoy the B&B property. It was definitely Jeff's and my kind of place.
But then we weren't there for a vacation. We met Jim on Sunday morning at the Visitors Center of the Park. We first went to Little Round Top but it was too crowded for us to discreetly spread cremains. We saw no tour buses at our second stop, the Peach Orchard so that is where we said our final goodbyes.
I guess I got the sense of closure I had been looking for. Unfortunately, the sense of peace that I had hoped for still eludes me.
No comments:
Post a Comment