For the last 30 years, I have been an active member of the Northwest Territory Alliance. This organization re-enacts the Revolutionary War. If you live in the Midwestern US and have gone to a battle re-enactment, you most likely have been to one of our encampments. The last year has been very hard for me to get out to one of the events. So today all three of us decided to take a day trip to one of the more local event sites.
We headed to Wheaton, IL to Cantigny Park. If you love history, you would love this place. You can tour the McCormick Mansion, the First Division Museum, play on the tanks and walk in the gardens (which are breath taking when in full bloom). Em and I had day tripped last year, but no one had seen Den in almost 3 years. Everyone was so happy to see Den up and around. Several of our friends stopped us to chat and it was very nice to see friends that live far away again. It was a hot day, so I made sure that we all had plenty to drink. We were invited to come into our unit’s camp. This is not normal, since we were in modern clothes. But the group had not seen us in a while and really wanted to find out how we were all doing. We stayed for a while and then decided it was time to head for home. Den was totally exhausted by the time we go to the expressway. I think he slept all the way home, but I kind of expected it.
My parents had taken their motor home to the event so they would not be home until tomorrow night and had already told them not to eat before they got home. I had planned a big dinner for us all. (Dinner the next night was great. BBQ ribs on the grill, potato salad, deviled eggs and fresh rolls. We all ate more than we should have, but it was too good to miss anything.)
Den's LVAD 