Boys on a Battlefield

The five of us spent Saturday roaming the fields of Gettysburg. And while Matt and I soaked up the history, the sacrifice, the valor, and defeat, the boys saw it a whole different way.

Their eyes surveyed the battlefield as fast as their little feet could hurry them through cannon lines and over stone memorials and their minds worked just as hard to keep up as the questions came pouring out.

You said this was a battlefield...where's the fighting?...

...where's all the soldiers?...

...where's the guns?....where's the swords?...

...why are the cannons empty? They won't work without being loaded!...

...Why are all these people just walking around a battlefield? That can't be safe....

...How did they know when to stop fighting?...

...How did they fight with all these statues in the way?...

Our trip to Gettysburg was one of our favorite trips with the boys so far. It was a day rich in history, learning, appreciating, and teaching.

While they don't yet understand the solemnity of the fields they walked, our time there laid a foundation in their imaginative minds of passion for history and the acknowledgment of sacrifice.