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My South By Rick Watson
Summer gatherings There’s just something and family over every few about summer. I think weeks to grill out. Jilda has people’s spirits are higher become a master preparer of this time of year. things to cook on the grill. You have fresh This week she prepared watermelon, cantaloupe chicken, but along with the bird, and tomato sandwiches she grilled romaine lettuce, on lightly toasted bread. tomatoes, bread, Vidalia onions You add a swath of mayo and peppers. Yum. and a dash or two of salt. Every so often, we’ll have Then you chase it with a our great nieces and nephews glass of sweet tea so cold over and play croquet in the it could crack a tooth. It backyard. We’ve had the same Watson doesn’t get much better set with wooden mallets and than that. red, blue, yellow and orange balls for It’s better when you grow your own more than 20 years. When you tap one of tomatoes. I’m not sure why, but it’s been the balls with the mallet, it sounds like it’s proven scientifically. OK, I lied about that, made of fine teakwood. but I challenge anyone to prove me wrong. I make up my own rules as I play. The Another fun thing about summer is kids usually start howling shortly into the river cruises with friends. We’ve never game, “You’re cheating.” owned a boat, but fortunately we have “Nope, it’s my yard, my game, and my friends who do. rules,” I say. When the sun burns off the morning Ah, the joys of being the eccentric uncle. fog and the day heats up, there’s nothing The backyard no longer looks as though like slipping into a pair of cutoff jeans, it’s a mud-wrestling arena, so we’re about slathering up with sunscreen and heading to build an outdoor dining area out of stone. to the river. We recently watched a movie entitled I looked up from my laptop for a Under the Tuscan Sun, and one of the brief moment as I wrote this and waited scenes showed a group of friends, family for my mind to grasp a connecting and neighbors outside enjoying dinner. thought, and there on my desk I noticed That scene resonated with both Jilda and a picture of me along with Dr. Tom me, so we’ve made it a priority to have Camp and Terry Frasier. an outdoor dining area of our own. I think One of the girls, I think it was Tom’s food tastes better when you eat it outside. wife, Judy, shot the photo from the front of I know there are a lot of gatherings the boat, and you can see the wake behind around the holidays in late fall and winter, us lapping the riverbank. I had my baseball but oftentimes our stress level is off the cap on backwards so the wind wouldn’t charts and it’s hard to let go enough to snatch it off my head. enjoy our loved ones. But that doesn’t seem We’re smiling so broadly it’s a wonder to be the case in summer. we didn’t have bugs in our teeth. So, that’s my thoughts on summer. The river is fun, but it’s not the only What are your favorite things you do in the meeting place in summer. We have friends summer?
B13 August 2013 • A37
That’s Life By By Paul Johnson
Integrity, perseverance and Gettysburg July 1-3, 2013 was the 150th incline. I felt naked, exposed, anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. cold. How terrible to have done The battle marked the end of the so with artillery shells and bullets Southern army’s invasion of the North raining down. I envisioned a and served, according to many, as the company of men marching turning point of the Civil War. It perhaps forward, following the voice of was the biggest battle of the war and their commander, never turning perhaps the biggest battle ever to occur or quaking. These men who fell in the continental U.S. Two great armies had no idea the outcome of the collided in the orchards and woods and battle, much less the war. on the fields and hills that surrounded All they knew was that this little Pennsylvania town, leaving moment and that day their over 56,700 casualties. general had called upon them to Johnson I found myself walking in this march forward to do battle. I was battlefield in the days between Christmas awestruck by the perseverance and New Years of 2002. It was a particularly dark time and the integrity of these men, no matter their beliefs in my life, a dark time that had lasted for nearly three in the purpose of the fight, to obey and follow. years. I had spent Christmas with a friend and his I distinctly heard that day to persevere with family north of Philadelphia, and as I made my way integrity through the darkest time of my life. I stood home, I thought I would visit the grand battlefield to there for a time, breathing deeply, listening, praying. see the site in person. I soon returned to my car, made my way south to A foot of snow had fallen the previous night, and home, and resumed living my life. so the field of terrible valor was covered in a majestic Six months later, I realized the darkness had lifted. blanket of purity the day I stepped upon it. As I arrived I credit those four hours at Gettysburg as the turning early in the morning, there were few other footprints point, when my decision to persevere with integrity to taint the picturesque landscape. I stood on the spot somehow emboldened and lightened my heart to where Generals Lee and Longstreet (of the South) resume and engage with intentionality the events and watched their men walk nearly a mile across a broad circumstances of my life. field on the third day of the battle on a frontal assault Perhaps you are engaged in a summer of of the center of the Northern line. discontent that feels like the brutality of war on the If you know anything of the battle, the third day inside. I invite you to persevere, to hang in there, with was a slaughter. The “charge” began at three in the integrity, the trueness of who you are and called to be. afternoon. The Southern Infantry did not run forward; The tide may yet turn. they marched, walked, slowly, in steady time. They marched straight toward the center of the Northern line into the face of a massive artillery barrage. They Paul Johnson is a professionally licensed did not stop until they reached the line. Thirteen marriage and family therapist, professionally thousand men marched forward. Half were killed, licensed counselor and nationally certified wounded or captured. Entire divisions were lost. counselor. You may reach him at 807-6645 or I slogged a quarter of a mile up the long slow lifepracticalcounseling@gmail.com.