Trailing Spouse Follows Lulu from Ocala to Tallahassee to Washington - And Finds His Grandfather

Lulu is reading grants for the federal government. After spending four days in Ocala this is a chance to enjoy the museums of Washington and see my son Keith.

After spending his freshman year at FSU - Keith became a Georgetown Hoya. After graduation - he stayed in Washington - working for iif.com. When Lulu started working at FSU - we convinced Keith to come back to Tallahassee and earn a masters degree in International Affairs. This landed him a job with the feds back in Washington. Without too much detail - Keith carries a badge and lays heavy fines on cheating companies.

Getting to see Keith is always an added bonus when going to DC. He is a sports nut - so tonight we will see our old "hometown" team - the Philadelphia Phillies - playing in the new stadium against the Washington Nationals. The game is the excuse - but the real fun is just being with him.

Yesterday - we all walked around town. We saw the new World War II Memorial. It is very impressive. It claims a very valuable and strategic spot on the mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. If you remember Washington in the 1940's - this spot was occupied by a rambling set of buildings used to administrate that war. It is appropriate that this spot was selected for the memorial.

One of the highlights for me was the computer kiosk on the memorial site. It allows you to search through all the folks that died in WWII. While I was in the restroom - "never pass a restroom" - Lulu did a search - and when I returned she had the information about Roy Shartle Everhart on the screen. It startled me.

For 60 years - I knew next to nothing about this man - my real grandfather. My Dad refused to talk about him because he left my grandmother with four kids under age seven and he disappeared. They were living in a coal company house and the company was going to throw them out on the street - until someone agreed that my seven year old dad would be "indentured" to work in the mines. With help from Cousin Bob and the Internet - we found out that Roy had died at sea during the war. He worked in the engine room of the USS Norlandia that was torpedoed off the coast of the Dominican Republic on July 4, 1942 - six year before I was born. All of this seemed so surreal. To see his name on that screen on the WWII memorial wells up hidden emotions. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Enough of that - I have four days to enjoy the city and my son. My mom used to say I had "gypsy" blood in me. The Everharts just love to go and go and go. Nothing has changed. Keith travels in his work all over the country. Lulu makes sure I get to go all over the world. Our little coal cracker family is spread out all over the country.

Next time we will see Keith is in England in July. This summer Lulu is teaching a course at the FSU Center. Keith has saved up plenty of vacation days to visit. And the Trailing Spouse will carry Lulu's bags. And you will follow along here.