I spent Thanksgiving in Virginia with my family, grandkids included! We stayed in the Shenandoah Valley, and it was spectacular. The weather was perfect, and the leaves were falling. I spent one day visiting Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

I was shocked to learn that he was only 33 years old when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. I tried to think back to what I was doing at that age, it sure wasn’t establishing a country. I was coaching baseball, not nearly as important as telling Great Britain to take a hike or else.

Oh, did I mention he was also a classic violinist?

What I found just as interesting is that the Shenandoah Valley is the site of dozens of battles from the Civil War. Tens of thousands of American soldiers killed one another on the exact same ground where American Patriots, outnumbered four to one, sent the Red Coats sailing back across the pond. Those two wars were only seventy-eight years apart.

One war was fought to establish a country, and one war was fought to divide it.

Touring Jefferson’s home, the tour guide shed bits and pieces of what life was like when he lived there. I know the craze today is to plunge yourself into an “ice bath,” but Jefferson was already ahead of the game.

There is a metal pot next to his bed which was filled with ice water. Every morning when he woke up, the first thing he would do is soak his feet in it. He believed it helped his circulation and strengthened his immune system. I’m gonna take his word on that one.

Jefferson even wrote his own bible, well sort of. He did not believe in miracles, but he believed in Jesus. He basically edited out the resurrection, walking on water, turning water into wine, etc. Jefferson focused on Jesus as a man of morals and a teacher of truth. He wrote, “Religion is a matter between every man and his maker, in which no other, and far less the public, has a right to intermeddle.”

In other words, it’s between me and God and none of your business.

I also learned that when he died, he was $107,000 in debt, almost two million dollars in today’s money.

His surviving family held an estate sale to pay his debtors. Not only did they sell of most of his personal belongings, but they also sold over one hundred slaves, tearing families apart. The tour guide stated there is an organization still working today to reunite the offspring from those separated families.

History is fascinating, but it ain’t pretty at times.

Early America was born, defended, divided, and reunited in and around the Shenandoah Valley.

In the closing line of the Declaration of Independence, the signers mutually pledged, “to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” They were willing to sacrifice their lives and all they owned to defend their reputation, honor, and a legitimate government. That is a united country.

I know it was Thanksgiving and not the Fourth of July, but walking around the home of a founding father made me feel grateful for the sacrifices of others and lucky to be an American. If I had a flag, I would’ve waved it.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I’m no constitutional scholar, but the way I read it, we all have the right to live our life in a free society and pursue our dreams without government interference.

Those rights cannot be taken away, so be who you want to be.

That is rather good writing for a 33-year-old tobacco farmer.

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Todd Howey is a columnist for BrownwoodNews.com whose articles appear on Fridays. Email comments to [email protected].