Of Thee I Sing...

What a tremendously happy couple of weeks it has been! Family reunion and then the Fourth of July.

Lucy's now in bed trying to sleep off her holiday hangover (two weeks of too much sugar and lots of stimulation make for a pretty happy - but TIRED child!)

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is serenading me with the Spirit of America as I now sit at my computer, in total neglect of our MESSY house, but in gratitude for a moment of reflection...






And how did we celebrate our Independence Day, you ask? Well, lacking a proper flag pole, we tied our stars and stripes to the balcony.




Lucy was very solemn. "I help" she repeated again and again.



And then...we trekked down to the Freedom Festival Parade, a favorite Provo tradition of ours (although we missed the convenience and the company of Janna and Corey's shaded parade spot of last year). But Lucy still laughed and laughed at the horses ("he-shake-his-head again!") and she loved the "seagulls!" she saw on the floats (Our corrections of, "E-agle! E-agle" were met by Lucy's blank stares and even more definite declarations: "Seagull!" "Seagull!").

It was all fun and pretty low key. But when a young children's choir passed by, singing the strains of "God Bless America," my heart felt a familiar swelling; my eyes, a familiar wetting.
I so much hope that Lucy will grow to know a similar, passionate patriotism. I hope that the American flag will represent to her in future days what it has represented to so many generations past.

To me, those brilliant colors represent :

Heroes.A countless number of them.
Abraham Lincolns and George Washingtons top a long list that includes our grandparents, parents, siblings, neighbors, and friends who live lives of integrity, service, and contribution.



Diversity:"The children in the playground, the people that I see
All races, all religions, that's America to Me" (The House I Live In)
Beauty:
Whenever Lucy sees the mountain- scene on my debit card she bursts forth in strains of, "I love-a mountains! I love-a-rolling hills!..." And then we get mixed up in fountains, daffodils, and firesides...but oh, how I love the mountains - those breathtaking, beautiful, moody mountains!
Hope:
All of this patriotic gushing does not negate the fact that hardship plagues our country. Evil abounds here - often perpetuated because good men and women "do nothing," or, maybe more likely, don't know what to do.
And yet when I look at our flag I feel hope because of the many good men and women I know who do something.
I have hope because of the inspired and moral foundation upon which our nation was built.
I feel hope that if change for the better is possible, it is possible here - in a nation of liberty and justice, in a nation under God.

And so, on we go, pursuing happiness,

grateful for the privilege of doing so.

My native country, thee, land of the noble free, thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills, thy woods and templed hills;
my heart with rapture thrills, like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, and ring from all the trees sweet freedom's song;
let mortal tongues awake; let all that breathe partake;
let rocks their silence break, the sound prolong.

Our fathers' God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing;
long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light;
protect us by thy might, great God, our King.

What do red white and blue represent to you? Why are you proud to be an American??