By Elizabeth Amstutz

It was a breezy summer evening in Philadelphia. My family and I were

eating dinner. It was very quiet until Dad spoke up. “I want to tell you some-

thing very important. I have decided to fight the British in the War. I am going

to leave tomorrow.” I was shocked that he was going to fight. I was also wor-

ried about him. When I looked over at Mom’s expression she looked worried

too. When I went to bed that night I pictured Dad wearing his uniform, look-

ing very proud.

It was Tuesday morning and Dad was getting ready to leave. We all said

goodbye to dad and wished him good luck. I watched as he slowly walked out-

side. He looked at all of us and gave us a small wave. We all waved back and

smiled. I watched him walk down the road until he disappeared over the hill.

Mom came over to me and whispered into my ear, “Your going to have to

help the family even more.” I leaned in close to her ear and with a soft and

confident voice whispered back, “I know.”

It’s been a week since Dad left. It was hard work to do all my work alone.

I had to take care of the of the animals and harvest some of the plants from

the field. Tom, my five year old brother, helped me with my chores too. He

would help bring in baskets of food from the field. Our lives were very different

because Dad wasn’t there. I missed having him work with me outside in the

field. Dinners were now more quiet than usual without him. We all missed

him very much.

One day in fall we received a letter from Dad. Mom read the letter

to Tom and I. The letter talked about all the small battles he won.

He even got to see George Washington! His letter made the colo-

nists seem so heroic and brave. I felt very proud of him. I said to

Mom eagerly that I wanted to write back to him as soon as possible.

She said that tomorrow she would write him a letter with some of

Tom and I thoughts in it. I nodded in agreement. Tomorrow Mom

called Tom and I into the house. She asked us if there was anything

we would want to say to Dad. I told her to write that I missed hav-

ing him work on the farm with me and it has been hard taking care

of the animals all by myself. Tom said to write that he loved and

missed him very much. Mom wrote the letter sent it to Dad.

On a summer evening Mom, Tom and I were eating

dinner. All of a sudden we heard the door creek a lit-

tle. We all looked at the door as it opened. In the

doorway stood a figure wearing a uniform. It was

Dad! “It’s good to be home,” he exclaimed. All of us

rushed up to him. We were all very excited that he

was home. “Tell us what happened.” Mom said. Dad

told us about all the battles he fought in and how he

suffered at Valley Forge. I thought all of his stories

were fantastic! He explained how the colonists won

and how happy everyone was. I loved all of his sto-

ries but most of all I was glad he was home.