I skipped Christmas this year, not the actual holiday, but by not writing a column about Christmas. As we age, we lose people around us, it happens to everyone, but for some reason this year I just didn’t feel the best. I was going to find a non-Christmas topic but just didn’t; but I would like to share what I did for New Years.

My “branding” is that of the Upnorthminimalist on my podcast, on Instagram and others. Part of the reason I’ve decided to go this route of minimalism and self-sufficiency is because I want to have more time, and money, for experiences. I’ve always been a history nerd and one of the locations I’ve always wanted to go to is the Alamo. With my significant other living near San Antonio, this was the perfect time to not only see her and her daughter, but to go to the Alamo. Granted my knowledge of the Alamo is from history books, movies, TV shows etc., I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was about to experience.

Spoiler, the Alamo you see in movies isn’t structurally accurate, the curved bell shape above the door of the chapel wasn’t put up until long after that fateful day. In case you weren’t aware 150 people died at the massacre that took place there, (women and children were spared), and in a show of disrespect the bodies were burned in the courtyard and not buried.

The first shock was, of course, in movies the Alamo stands alone. In 2024, it is surrounded by large modern buildings. But that doesn’t take away from the powerful feelings you get once inside. I had tears in my eyes and my girlfriend asked if I was OK. Maybe it was the leftover grief of the holidays, missing people, but I feel it was once inside the chapel you felt the weight of the loss.

You read the placards of the history, and you just feel it. I told her that I was OK, but that I was just happy to be there, and I was, but overall, it was tough and beautiful at the same time.

For myself, at 54 years of age, being a “patriot” is based on recognizing the losses of men, women and children, the sacrifices that were made to build, well, everything; the Alamo is the symbol of that. Once in the courtyard, they went to look in the well and continue to be a tourist. I stood there feeling the ashes of those 150 men that were burned there 300 years ago, now I know that sounds dramatic but it was. It fueled people for hundreds of years with slogans like, “come take it,” which was what they yelled to the troops to come take their one cannon, and of course “Remember the Alamo.”

The part that is what makes me, well me, is that there was a man there signing his book about the Alamo that he first published in 1977. He had to be in his 80s or older with a sign that simply stated, “buy the book, come back with a receipt and I’ll sign it.” His penmanship was excellent, and I hope to spend a couple days soon reading his book that he’s lectured on around the country. For $38, three of us got to have an experience, yes, I did buy the book and a hoodie, but I got rid of a hoodie as soon as I got home, and books aren’t part of my minimalism.

Take care, and enjoy 2024, have more experiences and collect less stuff.

Brian Keith Foreman is an organizational psychologist teaching remotely, a supervisor at Teaching Family Homes, and a freelance writer and public speaker living in the north woods of Wisconsin, a stones throw from Gogebic County. His podcast on Swell is located at swellcast.com/bkforeman69 and his website is www.briankeithforeman.com. He is the proud father of three, Hannah, Briana, and Bethany and the grandparent of Olive and Thaddeus.