While
my application is still in process with the Sons of the American Revolution I
received an open invitation to attend the next quarterly meeting of the chapter I will soon be joining at the Inn at Reading this past Thursday. After discussing with my wife and
double checking my schedule I made plans to attend heading there straight from
work. While I had hoped to arrive a little early other projects during the day
delayed my departure quite a bit and I walked through the doors shortly after
they began serving dinner.
Despite
interrupting dinner, I was welcomed warmly as soon as I walked in the room and
immediately brought to a table where a chair and place setting were brought out
in short order. Throughout the meal I enjoyed the conversation with all those
around the table especially with the man who had been helping me with my
application from the beginning. While I had never met the men and women in that
room prior, I was immediately made to feel as though we had known each other
for years. While not yet official, I was seen as having a common bond with all
those around me.
With
dinner nearly concluded, the guest speaker for the evening was introduced and
what followed was one of the more fascinating and thoroughly researched
presentations that I have heard in some time. Michael C. Harris adeptly condensed
a portion of his book, Brandywine: A Military History of the Battle that Lost Philadelphia but Saved America,September 11, 1777, into a precise narrative of the battle which was both engaging and easily digestible for all in attendance. It even gave me an
idea for a story or two in the future. The impetus for the book was quite
simple as at the time he was employed by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum
Commission at the Brandywine Battlefield and he wanted to produce an accurate
and comprehensive history of the engagement in the absence of current literature
about the battle. Needless to say, I was one of many who purchase a book once
the meeting was concluded.
Following
the presentation was the business portion of the meeting which included the
many new members, pending applications and supplemental applications, and
reports from various committees. In the end, while formal in attire (coat and
tie), the meeting itself was warm, welcoming, and relaxed. These are people
that truly enjoy the company of one another, embrace the community, and honor the
familial and national history that we each represent. It is an organization
that I am more excited than ever to join and one that I am certainly going to
enjoy sharing with my family as we discover more and more about the plethora of
patriots in our family history.
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