It's 4th of July Weekend!!!

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"

The Preamble to the Contitution of the United States of America

It's the 4th of July ... Independence Day. Even if we didn't know that, we sure found out last night didn't we? Wow! With all the booming and the cracking and the snapping, you had to be glad there was a celebration going on, right?

This nation is 232 years old. Meme was trying to explain to me how this country was born, how it all began. Of course for me it only began about 7 years ago, but when she starts talking I really do try to listen (which is more than Poppy does ;) ).

From what she told me, I'm pretty amazed at all that has been accomplished in a really short amount of time when you think about it.

Did you know that dinosaurs roamed the earth something like 65 million years ago? And humans appeared something like 100,000 years ago? Meme heard that somewhere the other day and she's still shaking her head. She had the dinosaurs and the people mixed up or something. History really isn't her thing. Anyway ..... I can't even think about that many years.

At our house, we just love our country no matter what. Some people say you shouldn't love your country right or wrong, but we just do. We feel so fortunate to have been born here. It's just dumb luck that we were ... we didn't do anything special. We could just as easily have been born in a place where we might not be able to find food ... or shelter, where we wouldn't be free to write what we want like I do here, or say what we really feel, or vote for the people we think can best run our towns, our cities, our states and our country.

Men who were alive long before Meme was born (and certainly waaaaaay before I was born) fought long and hard for liberty. And they have fought to keep it. They've even fought to help others achieve it. These men and women who defend our country have to love it more than they do themselves. They put their lives on the line, ready to pay the ultimate sacrifice, in order to fight for liberty, for freedom, for independence.

No one should ever make the mistake of misreading our disagreements with each other in this country. We fought for the right to disagree. We are and must forever be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".

In honor of this great country's Birthday, here is Meme's favorite patriotic song, America the Beautiful:

(If you really want a very special experience today, click here: America The Beautiful )

O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
Forpurple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev'ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!

O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
'Til all success be nobleness, and ev'ry gain divine!

O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!

'Til next time ...
Molly