There is now a fifth unique life-size artistic recreation of me in the world. Continuing in the military vein (a source bursting with irony, given my status as an unrepentant pacifist), i've stepped into the persona of Colonel George F. McFarland, Civil War luminary of the Battle of Gettysburg (no, not Spanky, the other George McFarland). The statue will be unveiled July 1st as part of a commemoration of the 150th anniversary. It will stay on as a permanent exhibit in the Seminary Ridge Museum.
George lost a leg in the battle, and the statue depicts me post-surgery, surrounded by family (i was allowed to keep my own leg during the body-mold procedure). There is a bit of coincidence in my new artistic billet - one of my ancestors was a nurse at Gettysburg. Isn't it strange to consider that she might have treated George...and wonder what she would have thought to know that her great-great-great-grandson would one day be the image of that man projected to the world? It was my intention to take my family on a trip there this summer, without telling them beforehand about the statue...but the surprise probably wouldn't have worked. Given George's beard, complexion, and eyebrows, i might have had a hard time convincing anyone that the form underneath is me.
And i don't want to quibble...but they took off the WRONG LEG!! Should i call the studio, and demand they rectify this? What would George do?
My rise in the artistic military service is becoming well-nigh meteoric, going from buck private to naval lieutenant to army lieutenant colonel in just a few years. I shan't let my head swell at the thought of my impending ascension to generalissimo.
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