Effort, it’s worth the shot
One of my wife’s favorite musicals is Les Misérables. To the average person it is probably a very depressing tale of a mistreated criminal who escapes and forms a better life for himself. That good life he builds is interrupted when someone finds him out. There are a series of misadventures and then a semi-love story develops. If you are looking for a happy ending, you might want to look someplace else because it doesn’t really doesn’t happen here.
The first time my wife and I saw Les Misérables was at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. She absolutely fell in love with it. She purchased the CD and it wasn’t long before she had all the songs memorized.
When Les Misérables came to our local dinner theatre I thought it would make the perfect birthday present for my wife. I’m sure there are those who know me that would tell you that, quite often, I don’t do things the normal way. I think it is very important for people to see, not only hear, how very special they are to you. So I went to work on making this more than just a birthday and more than just a show.
In the United States we celebrate our Independence on July 4th. Throughout our country there are festivals, parades, and fireworks on Independence Day. Patriotism rules the day. We are a great country and we have a huge party across our nation to prove it.
Plymouth Notch and Plymouth Union were no different. These little rival towns in Vermont took their celebrations down a different path. They had an annual game they played on the 4th of July. Plymouth Notch would steal Plymouth Union’s little cannon. Later in the day Plymouth Union would steal the cannon back.
John, one of the townspeople of Plymouth Notch, probably participated in those festivities. John loved his town and he loved Vermont. Plymouth Notch, like many little towns in Vermont at the time, was trying as hard as it could to be something, but it had a lot working against it. It really wanted to be a farming community, but the terrain was rough and the land just wasn’t that fertile. Selling milk from their cows was also a problem. To sell the milk the family would need to travel twelve miles down the road to Ludlow where the closest railroad depot was. By cart, that was a long way away. This was in the days before refrigeration, and the milk would spoil before it got there.
I decided to throw a surprise birthday bash for my wife. I decided to invite her family and my parents to the show. Since I was trying to surprise her I decided to leave out the part about other people coming to enjoy the show with us. I told her, for her birthday, I wanted to take her to the show. She was so excited.
I had to contact all the people and everyone, including her sister, who lived in South Carolina, could make it. One of the hardest parts of these plots is making sure no one slips up and spills the beans. The next issue is to make sure everyone is at the show before she arrives. In our area traffic is sometimes a big problem. It just took one person being late, and walking in the same time as us, to ruin the whole plan.
One of the fun things to do as a kid is to build a fort. In my younger days, it was amazing what you could do with a blanket, a few chairs and some pillows. It would keep me interested for hours.
As you get older, fitting into such tight quarters would probably be quite the task. I imagine if we didn’t lose our youth we could make quite the fort if we wanted to. Since it wouldn’t be permanent we could gather a few odds and end and throw one together.
We could get four 4x4s and either nail or bolt some 2x4s to them to hold them together. For our walls we could tack some old painter’s canvass to the sides. We could go out in the woods and cut us some branches or go out in the field and get us some corn stalks for the roof. We don’t want the rain to get in our little fort so we would want to make sure we gathered enough corn stalks or branches to protect us from the rain.
Another thing that might be a cool addition to our fort is a little opening in the roof. If we had an opening we could lay out there at night and look up and see the stars. Laying there at night, looking up at the stars, sounds so peaceful and relaxing.
There was a local gold rush near Plymouth Notch. Hundreds of miners swarmed the area. The gold was so diffused that it wasn’t worth the effort and the rush turned into a bust. All the miners left.
The miners weren’t the only ones leaving town. Westward expansion was the craze of the nation. Townspeople decided a life full of potential was probably better than the life they had in these little Vermont towns. One citizen, a blacksmith, who left Ludlow, took his dream and headed west to form a company. His name was John Deere. This isn’t the John we are talking about, though.
Death was also a demon that often haunted these little Vermont town. Plymouth Notch had two hearses. One, with wheels was for summer. The other one, with blades, was for winter. John’s brother had even died before John got married.
In a little town like Plymouth Notch a person had to be creative and do many different things in order to make a living. If one were to look at John’s resume they might think he bounced around from job to job. That wouldn’t really be true. John just did a lot of jobs to get by in a small little town. He had a small store, served as an insurance agent, tax collector, sheriff, and a notary.
To make sure my wife’s party flowed perfectly I enlisted the help of my step-daughter. She would text me and let me know how things were going at the theatre. Since we had to travel some distance we had to leave the house before everyone actually got to the theatre. I carried my phone, which I usually leave at home on occasions like these.
I had to hide my phone from my wife as I received these texts. As we got pretty close to the theatre I received a text that they hadn’t been seated yet. I told my wife I needed to stop in the closest convenience store to get a soda because my stomach was upset. I stayed in there a little bit until I received a text that everything was a go.
I rushed out the store and magically my stomach ache was gone. I knew we needed to hurry up and get to the show so we could eat our dinner before it started. She was so excited about the show that she had no idea what was going on.
When we got to the show, there was no one there to take our tickets. Everyone had been seated and I guess they were busy doing other things. I turned to my wife and said, “I guess we just go in,” and I started to go in. My wife grabbed my arm like I was committing a crime. I turned to her and said, “Oh, come on,” and she followed me inside.
As we turned the corner I noticed the family sitting together in the middle of the theatre. My wife still had no clue what was going on and said to me, “I wonder where our seats are?” I turned to her, pointed to the center section, and said, “I think they are over there.” She looked, then noticed the family members, and slapped me on the arm. She then said, with the biggest smile on her face, “You know I don’t like surprises.” Happily she gave everyone a hug and enjoyed herself thoroughly. My Dad, who had a real hard time even following the plot, told me later that he turned to look at my wife several time and saw her singing to every song. He said, “I think she knew every word.”
It’s called a sukkah and it is used to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot. It is the last of the three Jewish pilgrimage festivals. Passover and Shavu’ot are the other two. It is observed in the Fall, usually in September or October. It was a seven day festival. It commanded no work on the first two days, but you were allowed to work the other five days.
Sukkot means booths. These were temporary booths. The Festival of Booths, Tabernacles, or Sukkot is probably one of those items that gets overlooked in the Bible. To celebrate, Jews put together a booth much like the fort that was described above. It is to remind the Jews of their travels through the Wilderness. When they were in the Wilderness that had to be ready in a moment’s notice to pack up everything they owned, including their house.
Sukkot is not really a solemn holiday. It is actually quite joyous. Another part of the celebration is called Arba Minim or the Four Species. Four different plant species are gathered. They include a lemon (or some citrus fruit), a palm branch, two willow branches, and three myrtle branches. These are tied together and are called a lulav.
The lulav is then waved in six directions: north, south, east, west, up and down. This is a rejoicing before the Lord and acknowledging that He is everywhere. It sounds like quite the celebration.
John’s mother Sarah delivered babies, weaved, and taught Sunday School. His father even worked with horses and peacocks. His Dad even offered one of his Young Arabian horse for stud service at a fee of ten dollars. His father, through his mother, claimed that there was Indian blood in their family tree. Having Puritan and Native American blood seemed like a very odd combination at that time.
On the fourth of July in 1872, John would have to skip the 4th of July celebrations in Plymouth Notch. You see, John’s son would be born on that day. He son would be named after his father and would be a junior. To this day, John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. is the only President born on the fourth of July. I’m sure the birthday celebration was as grand as the 4th of July celebrations.
There are so many things in life that can get us down. We could walk around always looking at the ground, but if we do that we miss so many of life’s blessings. I believe that is why God gives us opportunities to celebrate. We need to take the time to celebrate life.
Despite all our bickering and differences of opinions, God has given us a great country to live in. Freedom and beauty surround us in all directions. Maybe instead of shouting at each other we should be singing together. Maybe instead of magnifying our differences we should be celebrating our similarities. Maybe instead of talking negatively about our neighbor we should be loving him. Just imagine all the celebrating we could do if we really tried.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, Thank You for things like birthdays, holidays, and festivals we can celebrate. Please open our hearts to each other so everyone can enjoy our celebrations together, too. Let not our celebrations be limited, but let us also include others outside our comfort zones. Please let us never forget to celebrate You, too. Amen.
