Random Thoughts on Change...

Beware this post is long and somewhat boring...

I have lived in Northern Virginia for almost exactly a year and a half now.  I have been at the same job for the same amount of time.  As a matter of fact, the job I currently have is what brought me out here, this third time around. Including the time I lived here for a summer while on break from school, the time I lived here right after I graduated from BYU, and up until now I have lived in Virginia for a total of about 2 years and 9 months.

Growing up we moved around a lot and after I graduated from high school, the moving didn't stop. In fact I moved even more after I graduated.  If I counted all of the times I have moved in my life, it would be over 30 times.  This includes all moves within a city, across the country, to another country, just for a summer or a semester.  Moves where I had to take all of my stuff out of one place to another. 

So thus far in my life, I am usually the one who lives in a place, makes friends and then moves away and everyone else just stays put and goes on with their life without me. They make really good friends because they stay in one place for a long time.  (Ok I realize I am over generalizing and I know that there are people that have moved just as much as me, if not more, but just go with me on this one.)

I have enjoyed the experiences in all of the places I've lived.  Some I enjoyed more so than others, but I have met a lot of people and had some learning and growing experiences in all of the places I have lived.

Now I am getting to a point in my life where I feel I should make some roots and stay in one place for a few years.  But you want to know what that means, that means making friends, becoming attached to them, then watching them leave and move to a different stage in life. That is hard.  It's one thing when you're the one doing the moving and starting over in a different place with a fresh start.  It's another thing when you're staying in the same place with the same surroundings and some of the same people and a good friend moves on. 

Having lived here for a year and a half now, this not uncommon phenomenon has happened to me a couple of times and I know it will continue to happen.  It's always hard for me, but I just recently read an article in the October Ensign that gave me some comfort on this topic:

The author was reflecting on her time at university where she made really good friends and then when everyone graduated they parted ways.

"Now we had graduated and moved to places all over the world, finding ourselves in situations we never could have predicted. I sighed with momentary feelings of loss, then glanced around the room at the laughing faces surrounding me at that moment and was struck by the sudden thought: good things keep on coming."

"I knew that even though some good things must naturally come to an end and that there would undoubtedly be many hard things in the future, the good things would keep on coming. And they always would—as long as I let them."

"Sometimes it is hard to move on, but we must. And moving on doesn’t mean forgetting friendships, forcing memories to fade. It means opening our hearts to even more happiness and more experiences."

People come and go in our lives. Some people stay longer than others, but I believe every person comes into our lives for a reason. Let us remember the good times with friends from the past but continue to make good memories with our friends in the present. 

Harper's Ferry is Beautiful!

Day 2 of our mini-vacation...

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.  Look at the awesome view from the cemetery down to the Potomac.  One of the most beautiful sites in the world! 

I took a picture of this gravestone because of what year she was born.  1781...  Crazy.

This is from Jefferson rock where Thomas Jefferson declared that "this scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."  It is beautiful!

Ruins of a church on our way down from the cemetery and Jefferson's rock.

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church just down the way from the ruins and you can see the top of it from Jefferson's rock.  The church has beautiful stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings, and pointed archways inside.  It's beautiful!

I really liked these flowers!

A reenactor teaching some tourists how to properly hold and shoot a Civil War gun.

Ruins of a cotton factory on Virginius Island at Harper's Ferry.  I really liked these ruins.  We sat on the edge of the ruins for a little while (where Anne and Kara are sitting) enjoying the awesome view of God's creations! Oh how I love nature! (We had to walk on the brick wall in the left of the picture to get to the edge)

Sitting on the wall of the ruins above.

Some more ruins. Virginius Island was so peaceful!

From the ruins above.

A cool bridge over the canal.

A picture in a Civil War background.  If you look closely you can see my raccoon eyes.  I got pretty sunburned on Saturday from being outside all day and because I was wearing sunglasses I looked like a raccoon.

The weather was perfect both Saturday and Sunday.  Both days were fun and relaxing!  Thanks Kara and Anne for letting me come a long for the ride :)

150th Anniversary Antietam!

 On Saturday, it was a beautiful day!  And it was the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg.  And I saw my first ever Civil War Battle reenactment. It was pretty dang awesome!

Since the Battle of Antietam was such a major battle during the war, there were a lot of things going on in remembrance of the battle.

 They had hundreds of volunteers dressed up in period costume.  Some played music from the time period. 

 Others told us about the Navy and their involvement in the Civil War.

 Others told us about the medical treatment during the war.  (This poor mannequin was not in good shape. And yes that is his leg sitting on top of him.)

 There were lots of tents with little stores in them where they sold replicas of period pieces, such as toys, clothing, pictures, books etc.  We explored the tents.  I bought one thing...

 A snood.  All three of us bought snoods and wore them the rest of the day :) 

There was a reenactment of the Battle of Bloody Lane.  This picture was before the battle as they were preparing to start.

 The confederates awaiting the battle to start.

So before the battle started the soldiers had to all march out onto the field. As the Union soldiers marched by they carried an old American flag with them.  And at this point the announcer, on the loudspeakers, announced that we would be singing the National Anthem.

When we started singing I felt like we all were singing loud and proud. And I got the goosebumps as we sang our National Anthem and watched the old American flag march by as we commemorated one of the major battles in a war that helped shape the United States of America into what it is today.  It was awesome! 

These were the Union soldiers.  They had a lot more cannons than the Confederates did.

See that smoke in the picture.  Well they fired off the cannons. Of course they did not have the balls in them, but it definitely made the loud noise that it would if it did have one in. They try to make it as authentic as possible. 

 In the action of the battle.  The Union is on the right.  The Confederates on the left.

 Some of the casualties from the battle. The bloodiest day of battle ever fought on American soil.

And the Union won!  After the battle and the reenactors are marching off the field.

It kind of amazed me how many reenactors get involved in these things.  Meaning it costs quite a bit of money and takes a bit of time to be a reenactor and how many people love it enough to do it.  I think it's pretty awesome! 

I had to get at least one picture with a reenactor.  Thanks to Anne for calling him over for me :).  Thanks to Kara for inviting me to go.  I enjoyed it! 

Stay tuned for more pictures from day two of our mini-vacation...

It's Official!

I am a Virginian!  I have a Virginia driver's license.  I have a Virginia voter's card.  And my car has a Virginia license plate.  YAY!  It's a good thing I like it here :)

That is all.  

Books!

Labor day continued...

After we went to Manassas battlefield, we made our way over to a used bookstore in the city of Manassas. Can I just say that it was awesome?!  Most of the soft covered books were $6 or less and for the most part they were in pretty good condition.  And did I mention that this was a huge store and that there were tons of cds and dvds too?!  It was pretty much awesome! 

So I bought 8 books and 3 cds for a grand total of $11.61. 

Which of the books does not go with the others? :)  

Kara highly recommended the Ann Rinaldi books to me and since they were so cheap, I decided to get a bunch of them.  I wanted to get more books in general but I decided to restrain myself.  But I believe another trip is in store in the next couple of months :)

And just so you know, I recommend Firehouse Subs to anyone who has never gone.  It's good food and they have over 120 flavors of soda. No kidding. 

Overall it was a lovely day in the beautiful town of Manassas!

Battle of Manassas!

 Happy Labor Day!  This morning I worked for a few hours. Then I went to Manassas with my roommate, Kara. This was my first time taking the tour of the Manassas Battlefield.  (Yes I know I live so close and it's sad that this is my first time, but hey now I've done it :)

 Look at those muscles on Stonewall /Greek God/Superhero Jackson.  Did he really look like that?! I don't think so. We had a good laugh about this one :)

 A cannon (and there was a whole line of cannons) showing where the Confederates would have been lined up for part of the 1st battle of Manassas.

 The Henry House! There was an old lady, Judith Henry, that lived in this house when the first battle of Manassas began and she refused to leave.  The confederates took over the house and the lady was killed by a Union bullet intended for a confederate soldier. 

 I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the outside of the house that this carving is in.  But it is in the Stone House, which was a field hospital for Union soldiers and later became a tavern.  The house was open to tour and we learned that some of the flooring was original. And two Union soldiers carved their names on the floor and on the baseboard.

Charles E. Brehm carved this one.

 Eugene P. Geer carved this one. Both were Union soldiers who were in the hospital almost exactly 150 years ago today. They walked on the exact same floors that we walked on today. Crazy.

The confederates took over the hospital and Brehm and Geer became POWs for a couple of days, then there was an exchange of prisoners and they went to a hospital with their units.  Brehm survived the war. Geer died about a month after he was returned to his unit. He was only 17 years old.

 The famous bridge that was demolished during the first battle of Manassas.  Then it was used by the Union army in the second battle of Manassas by placing wooden planks over the rubble so they could cross then destroyed it again so that the Confederates couldn't cross. (Obviously this is not either of those bridges, but it is the location of those bridges.) (I hope I am getting my facts straight about all of this stuff).

 Isn't the bridge beautiful?!

 A memorial in a cemetery for Confederate soldiers, who died at both of the battles at Manassas.

We also went to the Brawner Farm, where the second battle of Manassas began (and one of Kara's ancestors fought).  It was cool!

The battlefield at Manassas is beautiful! We only did a highlight tour but now that I know where it is and how cool it is and what else there is to do there, I will go back :)  We did more after the battlefield, but that will have to wait for another post...

P.S. I am really tired right now, so if this does not make any sense, that is why :)