Gettysburg commemorates with class

It's our last full day in Gettysburg and leaving is hard. In just a few short days, I've grown quite fond of this town where Lincoln's 10 sentences still resonate and the spirits of those who fought and died still radiate.

Why is it, do you suppose, that on the days we turn out to commemorate our veterans or war dead, the sun seems to shut its eyelids and release its tears? It happened last Wednesday at Arlington and again today at Gettysburg. The drizzle didn't stop the ceremony, though, and Gettysburg did it up right. I tweeted during the event, so you can get a flavor of it there. I'll write more in a future blog post.

Thanks to the rain, I had to do a little "hair repair" before going to my next event - the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania's luncheon at Gettysburg College. Talk about doing something right - this event was so jam-packed and enjoyable that I was nearly an hour late meeting my hubby and didn't even realize how much time had passed. Met some very interesting, very talented, very promising and very well-loved folks. Can't wait to tell you about them, but I'll have to save these stories, too, for another day.

I spent my afternoon in downtown Gettysburg, visiting the newly restored Wills House, the train station and a yummy restaurant the townies choose. We closed our day at the historic Majestic Theatre, where we heard a world-class world premiere of a musical production, a very inspirational talk by author Jeff Shaara, a very, very funny acceptance speech by young author Nick Taylor, recipient of the Michael Shaara award for Civil War Fiction, and a speech by Michael Burlingame that entertains no matter now many times I've heard parts of it. And, Michael, you've got another feather in your hat. You just may have hooked my hubby on Lincoln!

The Amazing Abe Adventure is winding down and I'm starting to feel like an unwound wind-up toy. It's been a long couple weeks, but a time I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Hope you felt a little of my excitement along the way and share even more of my enthusiasm for Lincoln. If so, the late nights and early mornings were worth it. Come back to visit the blog again. I'll try to tell you more about many of the people I met, talks I heard, things I experienced.

I'll be leaving Gettysburg, but I don't think it will ever leave me. I won't even try to put into words the power of this place. I just don't think it can be done.