Civil War Love Story

Happy New Year to all of my friends and neighbors for another great year. Last year we had a great year of Roger's Ramblings and let's start off this year with a big bang. How about a civil war story?

Let me give you a little background. I heard this story about 50 years ago from an old man in his 70s. He knew I was a kid who always loved listening to his old stories from the 1800's. He invited me to eat lunch with him and he proceeded to share a love story about a young lady and man who were married before the civil war started.

As the details of this story unfolded it made me realize what pain it brought to so many people during our civil war. The father of the bride was a southerner and the young man's family were Union. Long story short without details this caused major issues. Now, fast forward: 28 years ago I was involved in a major stage coach accident in which I received injuries that put me in a wheelchair for several weeks and I was off work for 6 months. During this time I had to do something to keep me going.

So I said to myself, write a screenplay about a young lady and man who were married right before our civil war started. Now: it just so happened that a week before my accident I had just watched the musical, 'Oklahoma'. I wanted to make this story very challenging, "let's make this a musical". I started writing a couple of days after I got back from the hospital. The challenges were tremendous because I rate a big fat zero on the musical ability scale.

Hey friends, over the next several weeks I would like to share this story with you all. The name of this story and drama is "The Last Dance". This story is based upon facts about a local young couple and how they endured years of war. The hardships of the civil war were staggering with 700,000 dead and wounded. Hatred for one another had no boundary lines-before-during-and after the war-even against close family members.

As this story will unfold you will see how a father's hatred is eventually turned against himself. In order to bring out the true human drama of this story, imagine it's 162 years ago. Put yourself in their places and feel the forces of hate and faith that prevailed. As you're reading you'll become attached to May Lou and Johnny to the point that you'll find yourself feeling great emotions as this story is revealed and unfolded.

This series has not only soldiers fighting each other with bullets but our most greatest enemies are sometimes our internal demons raging inside of us. This series will take several weeks to complete. Do not miss a single issue! Next week we will dive into it. The first chapter is: Tennessee Travelers.

Remember, friends: this is a local story! More Ramblings next week. I can hardly wait!!