A Birthday In Retrospect
April 2nd, the day after my birthday. I awakened this morning thinking of my ancestors, the ones going back to the England of the first millennium. Like the common Anglo-Saxon they surely had a hoe in their hands and planted the fields at this time of year.
They came to this country from somewhere in England, from Scotland on my mothers side. The earliest ancestor of which I have some knowledge is my great uncle Thomas McLamb. I have a copy of his pension papers from the Army of Northern Virginia. He was seriously wounded at Kelly’s Ford Virginia. He lived for some time afterward at his home place in Johnson County, disabled with a minie ball lodged in his head.
As the years accumulate, I am aware that I contain in my subconscious what those ancestors suffered, as well as what they achieved. My life as I have lived it, is a tribute to their existence.
My birthday was celebrated in company with my wife, who is a good friend and one of the most interesting individuals that I have known. Joining us was our oldest daughter and her partner. The four of us had a quiet evening dinner with candlelight. A spring soup recipe was successfully prepared and greatly enjoyed. Pork tenderloin and bread rolls filled out the rest of the menu. And of course chocolate cake was the obligatory culmination to the birthday festivity.
I thought about the two candles that suffused the dining table with a warm and gentle flame. The flare of the wick was surely the same for my ancestors of many generations ago, and for my ill fated great uncle. The light of my life continues to burn. I have many things for which to offer gratitude.
