Hello writing community. This is my first post in this community. I have been on the blockchain since 2018. I am mostly a travel blogger. I have decided to write a historical fiction book about my grandparents and the honeymoon trip they took in 1939.
I wanted a place to record the stories I write that I could share with others and--- maybe find a writing community to help keep me motivated.
In April I went to Iowa to do some research. Here is the post about Vinton Share Our World: The Vinton Benton Iowa Cemetery
I wrote this piece while sitting in the Vinton Cemetery next to my ancestors graves. I am a photographer and so there will be pictures with my writings :)
The book is a Multi POV with Pauline and Russell and this scene is well into the first section of the book.
Pauline
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1939
"Russell," I said, as I paused next to a headstone, "talking about our grandpas that fought during the Civil War makes me think about my grandpa Shockley. When I was growing up we would often visit my grandparents in Vinton and I remember him telling us that he was a boy during the war and too young to go and fight. Have you ever been to Vinton?"
Russell nodded. With his real estate business, he had been all over Iowa.
I really liked going to Vinton and seeing my dad's family. One of my favorite parts was the big Victorian houses that my dad would always make sure to drive past and point out to us on the way to the cemetery. I thought they were beautiful with all the different colors and I felt so connected to them after my dad told us that his father and grandfather were both painters and painted some of these old houses.
Walking along side Russell, I said, "When I was 14 my grandma Shockley died and things changed. My dad was so sad, that is the first time I remember seeing him cry. After her funeral he became so quiet and was rarely home. It was so hard for him to lose his mom. The next year I lost my dad."
Russell took my hand in his as we continued walking.
I cried when my grandma died and my heart broke when my dad died. Even though he was withdrawn he was still there. One day in January he went to the hospital. He was there for a couple of weeks and I visited him almost every day with my mom and brother and two days after my mom's birthday, he died of a blood clot following his appendectomy. We missed him so much.
With a heavy sigh, I thought, I miss him so much.
Turning back to Russell, I said, "We didn't go to Vinton as often after my dad died, not until 4 years ago, when my grandpa Shockley died. He was buried next to my dad."
Looking out at the headstones here in Gettysburg, I think of the cemetery in Vinton where my grandpa's parents are buried next to two of their girls—Leila and Lizzie. I remember standing by their graves on the day we buried my dad, and how, when I calculated their ages, I realized that they were teenagers when they died…the same age I was right then. Leila was sixteen and Lizzie was fifteen years old. I felt so close to them in that moment.
"Russell, I hope we do not have to bury our children. That would be terrible. It's hard enough that both of our dads have died before us", I said looking out at the graves of so many soldiers. "Look at all these headstones. So many people died in the Civil War, in the Great War and now we might have another war. Do you think we will have another war, Russell?”
Russell looked at me with such concern, "Yes, Polly, the things I have read and hear on the radio point to a war in Europe coming and I don't know how we would stay out of it."
I wondered, why do people have to fight and kill each other? Why do innocent people have to suffer? Looking back at Russell, I asked, "What do you think happens when we die? Easter was three weeks ago... do you believe we will be resurrected?"
I hoped and believed that I would see my dad again and I wondered what Russell thought. I was still so new to the Episcopal church while Russell was a very devout member and knew the Book of Common Prayer so well.
He looked up and said, "Yes, I believe that we will be resurrected and reunited with our loved ones."
Tearing up, I wondered for the hundredth time what it would be like to see my dad again, and my grandparents and to meet my great aunts who were so young when they died. What would Leila and Lizzie be like? It has been 12 years since my dad's death. I miss him terribly, and still think fondly of those two young girls in Vinton.
| Lelia Shockley, Died Sept. 25, 1872 | Lizzie P. Shockley, Aug. 9, 1863, Died Jan. 18, 1878 |