Lee Jackson Day

For those of you who don't know, here in Virginia we honor the Confederate war heroes Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. It seems a little bit odd to me. In fact the first time I heard about it was from a student last year and I laughed. Seriously? This came from one of my less illustrious (but spunky) students. I didn't know if I should believe him. But turns out that he was right. Lee Jackson Day is always the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Hmm, celebrate the people who wanted to keep slavery on one side of the weekend and the man who brought about the civil rights movement on the other side. There must be something that I don't get. Enlighten me if you can.

School isn't cancelled on Lee Jackson Day but the courts are. Which means that Peter (as a commonwealth attorney) has a four day weekend! Hooray for Peter! He told us a cute story this morning at church. When he was home on Friday, he explained to Ivy that he didn't have to go to work because it was Lee Jackson Day. Ivy accepted this and went on with her day. Later in the afternoon, she was taking on bath and wanted to know when we were coming over. As we hadn't made any plans to do so, Peter told her that we weren't coming over. With a confused look on her face, Ivy replied, "We don't get to see Jackson on Lee Jackson Day?"