By Lindsay Austin, Administration & Office Specialist II, Sailor's Creek Battlefield Historical State Park
When I was asked to contribute to this blog, I was excited, but then I realized I didn’t know what I was going to say. Now I do love my job, but what do I say in one paragraph that doesn’t involve paperwork and inventory? Then it hit me that while this is an important part of my job, it’s not the best part. The reason I love going to work every day is the people I get to meet. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I LOVE to talk and I do. History has always been a passion of mine and the Civil War is my favorite time period. Both of these facts are why I love my job. I spend 7 or 8 hours a day talking about something I love and get to share this with anyone who will listen.
The best example I can give was a lady from Wisconsin who came in the first month I was at Sailor’s Creek Battlefield Historical State Park. We began talking and she was telling me that she had an ancestor who fought here. She had traced him back here through a doctor’s note from the Overton-Hillsman House, and I was able to show her a rough idea of where he would have been and show her the records of his being here. She began to cry as we looked out to where this man had been 145 years ago and I couldn’t help but cry with her. Her gratitude and excitement was a great experience that will stay with me always. It is these little moments in life that truly make living worthwhile and where else would I have the chance to help someone connect with their past? It proves that old saying that “You must learn from your past, to avoid making those same mistakes in the future.”