Say what??

Just a very short note.  I have to get to bed - I have to be at Grandma's house in the morning at 4:15 to take her to the hospital for her surgery.  Boy, am I praying this knee replacement will help her.  I just wanted to tell you one of my newest blessings - K's companion, Cheryl.  She is coming tomorrow to stay with K, so I can stay at the hospital.  K wanted to go with me, but he would want to leave again immediately as soon as he ran out of people to talk to.  It feels wonderful to know that Cheryl will come, K will be safe and very happy to see her and I will be able to be where I need to be.

Bad headache today - K was talking and talking and talking and I finally asked him to be quiet for a while so my head wouldn't hurt so bad.  He said, "I can't be hurting your head - I'm a pain in the ass!" Sometimes he is still so funny and it feels good when we can laugh together.

Odds and Ends on a Wednesday - that is now a Friday!

Good day, friends and family.  It has been a busy, and sometimes productive time, since my last post.  I want to finish the story of our Nashville adventure and catch you up on the latest happenings here.

Front of the house and the second iron gate

So, after visiting the monument to Major David Wilson,  we set our GPS to find the intersection I had found on the Internet where the Wilson family cemetery was supposed to be.  We found the intersection way out in the middle of nowhere and turned onto Hix Lane, a winding dirt road.  At the end of the lane... a beautiful 8-10 foot high red brick fence with an iron gate, a beautiful  red brick federalist style home, a call box and many, many Do Not Trespass signs.  K, being K as he is now, said, "Let's climb the fence."  Okay, that's an idea, but possibly not the best one to make nice with the homeowners.  So I walked over to the call box and tried to call the house.  No answer and it was looking doubtful that we were going to be able to see the cemetery, as it likely lay beyond the fence, but we couldn't see it from where we were parked.  I left a message and figured oh, well, not going to be able to see it this trip.  As I was walking back to the car, a lady came out from the barn, so I turned back to talk to her.  She could not have been nicer and was so thrilled - we were the first Wilson's to ever come by their house.  She opened the side gate, told us to drive around to the cemetery, stay as long as we wanted, and then come back to the barn where she and her husband were working.

The Wilson Markers

The cemetery was back on the far side of the 5 acre lot that was fenced.  It was surrounded by a chain link fence and beside the gate was a old, old hay baler.  There was a path mowed back to it, but the rest of the field and the cemetery were knee grass/weeds.  We got out and then had to stomp the weeds down to get to the stones themselves.  We found the three marked Wilson stones, stomping a path all the way.


The three Wilson's buried there are:

V. Z. Wilson  b. 6 May 1759 d. 9 Aug 1840
(female)

Samuel Wilson d. 11 Aug 1849
Aged 50 yrs 1 mo 5 days

John Wilson b. 7 Dec 1759 d. 23 Oct 1836

Plaque Reads:

REVOLUTIONARY 

SOLDIER

John Wilson

1759     1836

PLACED BY
Col. Jethro Sumner Chapter
D.A.R.

It was really neat to locate these stones.  In total there are 24 stones in the cemetery;  the oldest is John Wilson's and the most recent is Fannie C. Hix, d. Aug 30, 1964.  We found one stone in the very far corner of the cemetery that we couldn't read at all, but seemed to be older than the other Wilson stones.  When we talked to the homeowners later, they said people believe that it is the stone of Major David Wilson, but it seems strange that the D.A.R. would put a bronze marker on John's and not do the same for David.  Most of the engraving is eroded away on these stones and I was very upset that I didn't think to bring materials to do rubbings to try to get the engraving from the stones.  I didn't realize that I didn't take a picture of the last stone, but as we stomped around we could hear movement in the weeds and I really didn't want to meet any of the other inhabitants of the place - like by a snake bite or something!

When we went back to the house, the lady had brought out water bottles and lawn furniture and we set down and visited for a little while.  Of course, K told his usual military stories, but I had told the lady about his dementia and they couldn't have been nicer.  They told us a bit about the house.  David Wilson started the house in 1790, completed it in 1794, and died in 1804;  so he only lived in it for 10 years.  The land itself, 2,000 acres,  was granted to him by George Washington for his service in the Revolutionary War.  According to a congressional report written by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in 1791 for President George Washington, this land grant #3 was still Indian land in the 1780's.  The couple, Mike and Brenda Scott, told us that the house had been occupied continually since it was built and also had been a military mustering area for the Civil War, World War I and even World War II.  They said that one day an 80 year old man had shown up at the gate and told them he was a child raised there and remembered seeing soldiers doing battle practise, tanks, and even airplanes on a strip that the government built.  They apologized for the condition of the cemetery, but explained that they traveled a lot and hadn't got caught up since they had returned from their latest tour.  It soon became obvious that they were in the music business - country music.  And of course, I know less than nothing about country music!  Mike named off several bands that I am sure most people would recognize.  He plays the banjo and sings and also does gospel music.  They were actually leaving for Israel the next day!  Anyway....they gave us their phone number and also their face book page and said to tell any relatives that they would be thrilled to have any Wilson come to see the cemetery.  Mike said that he had gone through the county archives about David Wilson and the house and that they were fascinating and very complete.  He encouraged us to go down and look into them and maybe we will at a later date.  I'm sure it would be amazing to see the records on that land and family.  I would have loved to see the inside of the house, but we weren't invited in.  We were strangers after all and they had been more than gracious, so I can't complain.

If anyone is interested and wants to go to Tennessee, I have their contact information and will be happy to share it with you.  Meanwhile - you can "meet" them on face book - search for Mike Scott Fan Page.

After all that we had a smooth trip back home.  K was pretty disoriented by the trip, but I think the change of venue was good for both of us.

Since we've gotten back we've been uber busy - helping grandma clear things out to have wood floors laid in the condo, helping grandma put things back into place after the carpenters were done,  helping get ready for grandma's company visiting from Oklahoma last week.  We had a wonderful visit with old friends and new.  K and I went to the Imax and saw The Titanic in 3-D - it was awesome!  My favorite scenes were the actual underwater images of the Titanic at the beginning of the movie.  Now I want to see Titanica in 3-D, which is more about the finding and analysis of the ship today.  Then we took grandma and her friends to see the Titanic exhibit at the Henry Ford.  We had seen the exhibit in Chicago years ago, but it was still awesome to see things that had lain on the bottom of the ocean for almost 100 years.

This weekend we are going to Greenfield Village to see the Civil War Muster for Memorial Day.  I hope we see some of the men Jason re-enacted with way back when.  That was a great  group of men who really enjoyed history and mentoring a young man who also enjoyed history.  We've been blessed so many times with wonderful people coming into our lives.

It has been a very stressful week this past week.  K walks all the time - down past the soccer fields at the high school and back the other way to the union hall.  All day.  Every day.  I was concerned when he started telling me that he was making comments,  innocuous comments, to students running by.  He would ask them if they wanted to have a Navy Seal teach them how to run.  Of course, he didn't mean anything by it, but in society today, that could be misconstrued as a inappropriate remark.  So, I figured that sooner or later this would become an issue.  And it has.  First, someone at the union hall called the police to have them check K out.  He had wandered into the hall a couple of times (that I knew of).  So he came home and told me an officer had stopped him and wanted to know who he was, where he lived, what he was doing.  Even though that was as far as it went, I knew I needed to call the local PD and explain the situation, but really, that's a tough thing to have to do.  Wednesday, I sat down to call the PD, the phone rings and it is an officer, letting me know that he is with K at the soccor field.  I briefly explained the situation and invited him to come on down to the house and I would talk to him more in detail.   Officer DeYoung and I had a very good conversation.  He is the Police Liaison Officer for the school.  The school had notified him of a potential problem.  After we discussed K's disease, he took the information I had to give him, our phone number, my assurance that I know at all times where he is and what he is doing.  Officer DeYoung will get back with the school and let them know what the problem is and I'm sure there will be conversation with teachers, coaches and students about this.  That's okay.  If people know, then I can continue to let K have a little bit of independence for a while longer.  I've wanted to walk with him, but he never wanted me to, and I understand.  But yesterday he let me walk with him and I'm going to start taking him to the city park for us to walk at least part of the time.

K had an EMG done last week and a follow up visit with Dr Shatz this week.  The EMG (nerve conduction test) showed no change since the last one a year ago.  So no concern yet of motor neuron disease.  Dr Shatz did a brief testing to see how K was doing in comparison to the more complete testing in December.  He is continuing to decline (yeah, I kind of knew that).  It is very hard now for him to attend to conversation at all and I know that many times when I try to tell him something, he doesn't understand me.  Dr Shatz added Seroquil to his meds - it will calm him down, and allow him to sleep.  I talked to Dianne, my counselor, and she said it is very effective for OCD symptoms, which his walking is and is also sedating.  It sure is.  I gave him half of a 50mg pill at 9p Wednesday and he didn't start pacing until 4p the next day.  So, hopefully this will help us both.

We've had quite the disagreement lately over him leaving the house after dark.  I discussed this with Dr Shatz and the social worker.  There are several things I can do for now.  I can switch out our deadbolts to keyed locks on the inside and not let him have a key.  I can change the alarm code so that he can't turn off the alarm and it will let me know as soon as he opens a door (he left one night as soon as I got in the bathtub.  I found him - smirking like the typical teenager).  I can install "confounding" locks on the doors that I can open and he can't.  I hate this, but I have to keep him safe and if I can't keep him safe, he can't stay at home.  I think this is the issue that caused his Dad to put his Mom into nursing care.  That and the hostility.  That hasn't been a problem for us yet, but it could be if he is confined to the house.  I can see a lot of walking in my future.  That's okay - it will be good for me!

It's been a stressful week and I've had some real lows the last few days.  But today I've pulled my big girl pants up once again and I'm marching on.  I hope you are all doing the same.

Love and blessings, Mary

Hello, dear friends and family,

Okay, I have been trying to get my pictures onto a contact sheet so I could show more than one pic at a time, but the gods are against the idea.  If I keep trying, I'll never post again!  And I've been told that's not good -----so here we are.

Has it really already been two weeks???  Time flies when you are having fun!  And we have had some fun lately.  K and I drove down to Nashville on Thursday,  April 26 to check out our old stomping grounds.  It has been 15 years or so since we lived in Brentwood so we knew things would have changed - but boy did things change.  It was late when we pulled into the Embassy Suites in Brentwood, so we called that a really long day and after a few meeting of the minds sessions, we went to bed.

Friday, we got up raring to go - Okay, I got up, went down, had breakfast after trying to get K out of bed.  I brought breakfast back up to him and after waving coffee and doughnuts under his nose for a while, K made it up also.  We decided to go take a peek at out old house first.  We found it after a few turnarounds - surprise!  The road no longer goes straight past our neighborhood and on to Franklin - it dead ends at a gated home.  The house looked older (somewhat as we do!) and not as well cared for as it was, but it was still there.  The neighborhood was about 3 times the size it was and all the wooded areas above our house were developed.  Wilson Pike (and yes, turns out it is named after us, can you imagine) now curves and goes to a High School complex larger than PCEP.

Carnton in Franklin, TN 

225 Unknown Confederate Soldiers

We went on to Franklin and the Main Street area was mostly unchanged - the stores were different, but at least main street was recognizable.  Tons of antique shops - we shopped until the dust got the better of us and then decided to look up the Carter House and Carnton.  For the uninitiated, there was a huge and very bloody battle during the Civil War in Franklin and these are 2 historical houses that were here during the battle.  We found the Carter House, but something was going on and it was packed, so we went on to Carnton.  Carnton found itself just about in the middle of the melee and was made a hospital for the Confederate army.  Carnton is the setting for a book, The Widow of the South,  about the mistress of the house and the work that she did there during and following the war.  (It's a good read and a wonderful story of devotion and perseverance.  I highly recommend it.)  Anyway, when we were living in TN we took most of our house guests through both of these houses and the Historical Society was starting to plan the restoration of Carnton.  I was excited to see the changes.  I had a  talk with K about the tour and how he would need to behave during the tour and he agreed he could handle it and wanted to see the house.  I was so proud of him - I know how hard it was for him to not talk and not tell his stories to all the people around us.  But he did it!  He respected the fact that the woman who was giving the tour was working and not just chatting as it seems.  I gave the tour guide one of our cards and told her we might need to leave the tour early and she was very understanding.  But we didn't have to and what a joy it was to see him try so hard to be respectful of the situation.  K has always had a strong work ethic and respect for people's work and I got to see that aspect of him again for a little bit.  The restoration was complete and beautiful and some of the stories had changed as they learned new information about the family.

The two pictures you see are K at Carnton and also at the largest confederate cemetery on the grounds of Carnton.  The story of Carnton tells of the establishment of the Confederate Cemetery and how Carrie McGavock spent her life trying to identify each soldier buried there.

Major David Wilson
and Corporal Kaye Wilson

 To the Memory

Of

David Wilson

1742 - 1804

Major.

Continental Army

Pioneer Settler

Legislator

Whose Name

Wilson County

Proudly Bears

By the end of Friday K was ready to come back home.  So we planned to find the memorial to Major David Wilson in Lebanon, TN and the Wilson Cemetery in Galatin, TN on Saturday and head on home.  We had read about both of these in the family history K's brother D shared with us a couple of years ago.  First stop was Lebanon, about 30 minutes away from Brentwood.  Lebanon had a website, so I kind of knew where we were headed.  I also found that it is nicknamed the Biggest Antique Town in America - our kind of place!  There were a lot of shops and we tinkered about for a bit, asked a few people if they knew of a monument to Major David Wilson in town without any luck until we visited the last little shop.  The owner there knew about the monument, but said Lebanon had built a new Courthouse and he wasn't sure if the monument had been moved, but that there was a memorial monument there that was new and gave us directions.  We drove over to the courthouse and the first thing we saw was a new memorial to all the Lebanon veterans who had died from WWI and later.  Disappointment!!!  But we walked around to the front and there it was!  Wow!  It is hard to imagine that we lived in TN for 5 years and missed this entirely!  It was really exciting to find this, but the day was about to get even more exciting!

Hey, these pics are going in better than I had expected!  Ha!  Well, I want to post this tonight, so.....

.........to be continued

Love and blessings, Mary