The Heart Of The Matter

Seeing that I recently passed the milestone of my second year of being divorced, this event motivated me to share a couple of the "Heartbreak Songs" that have kept me company during the past couple of years. 

If these can be of help to anyone unfortunate enough to being stuck in a season of heartbreak, here you go!

The Heart Of The Matter

[Verse 1]

I got the call today

And I didn't wanna hear

But I knew that it would come

An old true friend of ours

Was talkin' on the phone

She said you found someone

And I thought of all the bad luck

And the struggles we went through

And how I lost me

And you lost you

George Washington: The Revolutionary War in Four Minutes

 

Jared Sparks Thoughts On General Washington's Faith

Jared Sparks (1789-1866), was a noted writer and historian. Sparks’ herculean historical productions included not only the writings of George Washington (12 volumes) but also Benjamin Franklin (10 volumes) and Constitution signer Gouverneur Morris (3 volumes). Additionally, Sparks compiled the Library of American Biography (25 volumes), The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution (12 volumes), and the Correspondence of the American Revolution (4 volumes). In all, Sparks was responsible for some 100 historical volumes. Additionally, Sparks was America’s first professor of history–other than ecclesiastical history–to teach at the college level in the United States, and he was later chosen president of Harvard.

In his research regarding George Washington's faith he reached out to Washington's adopted daughter, Nelly Parke Custis. 

When Martha [Custis] married George Washington, she was a widow and brought two young children (John and Martha–also called Patsy) from her first marriage into her marriage with George. The two were carefully raised by George and Martha, later married, and each had children of their own. Unfortunately, tragedy struck, and both John and Patsy died early (by 1781). John left behind his widow and four young children ranging in age from infancy to six years old.

At the time, Washington was still deeply involved in guiding the American Revolution and tried unsuccessfully to convince Martha’s brother to raise the children. The young widow of John was unable to raise all four, so George and Martha adopted the two younger children: Nelly Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis, both of whom already were living at Mount Vernon.

Nelly lived with the Washingtons for twenty years, from the time of her birth in 1779 until 1799, the year of her marriage and of George Washington’s untimely death. She called George and Martha her “beloved parents whom I loved with so much devotion, to whose unceasing tenderness I was indebted for every good I possessed.”

Miss Marcia

Miss Marcia. Role model. Teacher. Musician. Singer of Happy Birthday using the highest notes imaginable. She took over a show originally called "Romper Room" in 1962 and a year later the show was renamed "Funtime". Every kid back then knew that at 9:00 am, Miss Marcia was on the television, channel 9, (one of three channels we could get with our rabbit ears antenna). You could look forward to possibly hearing her call out your name during the famous Happy Birthday segment, but she also introduced generations of kids to music, how to tie your shoes, and how to tell time. Clocks were a mystery to me until I figured out that when the big hand was on the 12, and the little hand was on the 9, that was 9 o’clock: Funtime!

I was actually on her show twice, once when my piano teacher volunteered me to play a song for her, (I think I was eight or nine) playing the same piano she used each week to play Happy Birthday! It was too cool! The second time I was part of a group of young piano players promoting an upcoming Pianorama event at Memorial Auditorium. Both times I remember the hot, very bright lights, but also how small the actual studio was, (and how cold!) and how the big cameras on wheels would easily roll to their next assignment, guided by men who had to be the luckiest people on the planet to be that close to Miss Marcia every single day!