Well, it’s nearly midnight on Sunday night, I just finished about seven hours of homework and now I have to come up with a blog.  What to do, what to do?  *looks around living room for inspiration*  I got nothing.  Except that my living room is a total mess.  Now I’m tired and depressed.

I’ll have to revert to time travel.  Stay with me here.  This weekend I hopped in my little white, two-seater time machine (equipped with a newly rebuilt transmission *sigh*) and went back in time to the American Revolution.  Translated, I visited Colonial Williamsburg.  I love this place.  It’s gorgeous, beautifully preserved and awe inspiring when you understand the world changing events that happened in those homes, taverns and streets.

My first trip back in time happened last summer, during a heat wave, with the Captain and Vixen Tiff.  We had a blast, admired the scenery (ahem) and sweated a lot.  This time was the same in that I sweated (sweat?) my arse off and admired the scenery (he was on a horse!) but the difference was experiencing it with my daughter.  We watched a series of scenes meant to show the struggle of the people to choose sides, the inevitability of the war, the suffering that resulted from choices in some cases forced upon people, and the triumph of winning independence.  That last was accompanied by cannon fire and my ears are still ringing.

What made this all more powerful was explaining it to Isabelle.  And in doing so, realizing how hard it must have been when you didn’t know the outcome.  It was easy for us to join in with the crowd cheering for revolution, but we know how it ended.  Sort of like watching poker on tv and yelling for the guy to go all in.  It’s easy to say do it when you can see everyone else’s cards.

So, since I should probably tie this into writing, for those writing history, do you research more than facts, societal norms, and cravats?  Do you do your best to understand how your characters would have felt and thought at that time?  Is it hard to forget all that you know and put yourself in that place? 

And on a personal note, do you think I should use this picture of Isabelle, sitting next to Mrs. Arianna Randolph, as my Christmas card this year? That mopcap was so cute!