Yemassee and a New Year

I have been thinking of this post and rewriting it as it has nothing to do really in regards to tennis. But as we turn the leaf over into 2013 it is always a good time to reflect.

One of the benefits in being a "seasonal" teaching tennis professional is that I get close to 4 months off a year. I enjoy this time with my family and I get some father/daughter bonding time before and after my 3 months working in Martha's Vineyard in the summer.

It's always tough to leave the family for an extended period of time. I had to travel to Singapore and Australia in my prior work leaving my wife back in the UK alone for up to a month at a time. But 12 weeks is a long time to be gone from one's home and family. My answer is: "Our American soldiers go farther away for a longer period of time and are doing jobs that endanger their lives on a daily basis." I am very lucky to be able to lead a life teaching tennis.

I do get to travel with tennis and I drive up and down the East Coast and once in a while I find a place that makes me realize how big a country we are and just how many cultures we have here in the USA. But then again, no matter where we are, we all have the same goals and objectives in life. One stop I made on my a recent migration was Yemassee, South Carolina.

I was on the hunt for gas as I had allowed the small gas tank light to come on and I had travelled off the beaten path this one morning of my journey. I had left behind most of South Carolina's back roads and was on Highway 17A when my tires rolled into Yemassee, South Carolina.

A town of approximately 1,000 people, Yemassee boasts one gas station that I could find: El Cheapo Gas.

Yemassee was the center of the Yamassee tribe of Indians up until the Yamassee war of 1715. Few towns boast a whole war with the town's name. As I drove down into the village, I noted Civil War encampments and fortifications by the roadside and I realized I was in the heart of a town that had a big Civil War history. In fact, all of the churches in town were burned during the Civil War except the Presbyterian Church which served as an army hospital for the Union soldiers.

The railroad passes through Yemassee and I learned that over 500,000 troops travelled through the Yemassee depot on their way to Parris Island and training just 45 minutes away. Yemassee has seen war and its ramifications in many ways over 2 centuries.

It's amazing to think, as you drive into what seems a small paradise, that the past and the events of war is never far away. Will 2013 see peace and prosperity? For those 1,000 people in Yemassee in their South Carolina small town through which AMTRAK rumbles through twice daily, life is no different than those of us in bustling South Florida and our 6 lane I-95 just 400 miles or so South. Cultures may vary and accents may have different twangs but we worry about peace, we tend to our families and friends and we live with our faults and strengths, our memories and our future, of which 2013 is just a stepping stone.