WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE WHO SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE?

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army.

Two had sons who were captured.

What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Parenting

"Days are long, years are short."

Leanne Doyle Duncan

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.
Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946)

Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate. George Burns (1896 - 1996)

In life we don’t get what we want, we get in life what we are. If we want more we have to be able to be more, in order to be more you have to face rejection. Farrah Gray

TIME CHANGES THINGS

WHAT A DIFFERENCE 30 YEARS MAKE.
1979: Long hair
2009: Longing for hair

1979: KEG
2009: EKG

1979: Acid rock
2009: Acid reflux

1979: Moving to California because it's cool
2009: Moving to California because it's warm

1979: Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2009: Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1979: Seeds and stems
2009: Roughage

1979: Hoping for a BMW
2009: Hoping for a BM

1979: The Grateful Dead
2009: Dr. Kevorkian

1979: Going to a new, hip joint
2009: Receiving a new hip joint

1979: Rolling Stones
2009: Kidney Stones

1979: Being called into to the principal's office
2009: Calling the principal's office

1979: Disco
2009: Costco

1979: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
20004: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1979: Passing the drivers' test
2009: Passing the vision test

Tough Reality

Life is like a vapor which appears for a little while and then vanishes away. James 4:13-14

I conducted the funeral yesterday for my father-- age 91. I referenced the passage from James and made the following comment: Whether death comes at 9,19, or 91-- life is still short, just shorter for some than others.

Good Advice

Life must be lived forward but can only be understood by looking backward.

Soren Kierkegaard

Well Put...

Two things boggle the human brain-- trying to get rid of somebody who won't leave and trying to hold on to somebody who won't stay.

From War of the Roses