George Washington's Death, by Cal

A few weeks ago, Cal and I caught most of the second half of a one-hour documentary about George Washington on the History channel.  I thought it was pretty interesting - as one might imagine of a History channel documentary, it went beyond anything we had learned (and, in my case, since forgotten) in school.  What’s more, Cal thought it was interesting, too.  I knew it at the time, made obvious by his eyes being glued to the TV while the documentary was airing and his running around as the bundle of energy he is during commercials.  When the documentary came back on, his eyes were once again glued to the TV.

To be honest, I’ve forgotten many of the details I learned that day; but I do remember a few things about Washington’s death.  He was older, maybe in his late 70’s or early 80’s.  He had been out riding his horse when something happened.  I don’t remember what happened – perhaps he fell or just came down with something.  I know he didn't get shot.  He was having difficulty breathing because his throat was closing in on him.  I believe he was suffering from Epiglottitis.  A common practice in those days was to drain the patient’s blood, I don’t remember why.  Maybe to relieve pressure?  Get the bad blood cells out?    Turns out, this was the wrong thing to do to save ole George (again, I can’t remember why); and it ended up killing him.

I only include those tidbits to add some context to the rest of my story.

Cal’s interest in this documentary on the History channel was clear to me that day.  He asked questions during it and even talked about it for hours afterward.  Turns out, it was in his head for days (now weeks), which I learned when I pulled this gem from his backpack after school a week or two ago.  Now, his class did cover George Washington sometime during the year; but not within the last couple of weeks.  This picture / story was inspired by what we saw on the History channel that day, and I’m sure he drew it during one of their “quiet reading” or “personal choice” times of the day.

Cal wrote:

“George Washington had died because his throwt was closed in.  in the Revolution they had gun’s and swords. george Washington was Killed by the guns of the Revolution.”

I’m not sure from where the “killed by the guns” part came.  Probably a young boy's senseless obsession with guns.  If I were to ask Cal today how George Washington died, he’d say that he couldn’t breathe because his throat closed in on him.

And accompanying this write-up were a couple of pictures of ole George, drawn by Cal.  One is of Washington sitting on a horse and shooting a gun.  He is wearing his hat and his familiar wig and has an angry face.  The second is of Washington, now hatless but still wearing his wig.  He appears to be looking right and, this is my favorite part, is saying, “Cant breath.”  Classic.

While the volume of paper this kid brings home drives me bonkers, I do frequently stumble upon these keepers that give me a sense for what's bouncing around in that kid's head.  It's good stuff that needs to be shared.  And I love sharing it.