I've been reflecting all week on flags and freedom, trying to pin down what patriotism means to me. I've decided that patriotism is a love of country, of home, of things that are familiar... and in this country, and in my life, those things are wide and varied. There are so very many things that bring joy to my mind and my heart as I think of this country that we live in, of the town in which I grew up, of my family and friends who have given service to this land that I love, that I thought... heck, I'll make a list. (We all know that I love to make lists.) So, here's a pretty random list of things that I love that remind me of God, Country, and Family.John Philip Sousa marches (and Mr. Shumway's arrangements of the same)
Flags flying in yards
Red and white petunias
Sparklers
Red creme soda
BBQ & Navajo Tacos at the rodeo grounds
Home-made ice cream
Watching the fireworks off Grammy & Grandad's front porch
The Rodeo
Swimming in the creek (makes me shudder now, but dang, I loved to get in the creek when I was a kid)
Trifle with strawberries & blueberries
Those red, white & blue popsicles... can't remember what they're called, but I love them!
The MoTab singing patriotic hymns, turned up good and loud
Driving to the top of Solomon's Hill early so you can get a good seat for fireworks
White-washing the fence at the rodeo grounds
Lee Greenwood
Stadium of Fire (oh, heck yeah!)
The Arnold Friberg "Prayer at Valley Forge" painting
The White House
The Vietnam Memorial
Getting up early to watch the parade in Provo with my cousins
Family dinners at John & Ginny's
The Statue of Liberty
Star shaped sugar cookies and burnt hot dogs
Memories of my dad crying at every single patriotic school assembly we ever had
Not being able to get through the last verse of The Star Spangled Banner because I'm too choked up to sing
The 3rd verse of America the Beautiful gets me every time, too
Poppers
Red punch and sticky fingers
The firing of the anvil, and following the band around town
Giant American flags flying (you know, the really really big ones... Mmmm, I love those!)
Men in uniform
Toby Keith
The Jennings Band (esp the drummer... I so love him!)
Potato Salad
Religious Freedom, and Freedom of Speech (well, actually... all of the freedoms are pretty great, who's kidding who? ... but today these are my faves)
A good book, a blanket and some good grass to read on
Mrs. Tubbs, she had us memorize My Country, Tis of Thee and America the Beautiful in the 2nd grade
Vets - of any war, from any division of the military - we owe them (and their families who support them) so very very much
And now, I'm having to cut the list off... For no other reason than I can't keep typing AND wiping these blessed tears off my face (really, I'm afraid that the 'puter's going to sustain permanent damage as a result of all this water dripping off my fingers and into the keyboard). All of these things make me happy, and grateful, for the country that I live in, and for the life that I've lived. Truly, I am about the luckiest person I know... to have so many things mean so much to me... I am truly blessed. As are we all.
God Bless America, and Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! (listen to me... I sound like the President with that "fellow Americans" bit... Hahahahaha!)
10 comments:
Perfect! Loved your list. And I love that you're crying. Sniff, sniff.
I've GOT to see that anvil thing one of these years!!
Happy Independence Day!
Simply beautiful, Laurie. Thanks for sharing those beautiful heart-felt thoughts.
That was a fantastic post. Thank you!
Okay Laurie, you are so polite. I just add people to my list whether they know it or not. And, yes, you can add our blog to yours. So, ballshouse is down right now because Mike has the server at work and it's not plugged in at the moment. He's aware of it and hearing about it from his sisters--can't say when it will be up and running though.
So, maybe I could read your blog and get this answer but is the name of your blog from Thoroughly Modern Millie? Anyway, it was good to hear from you and to finally have your address!
COUSIN ROBIN!!!!!! I'm so glad you found me. (And, please, stop with the calling me polite bizness. I did ask if I could add you... but then when I hadn't heard from you (uhm... pretty much the next day), I went ahead and added you on my own - then when I was home this weekend Brea asked if I knew if you'd had your baby yet... so I told her all about James and, erm, gave her your blog address. (So you can expect to be hearing from Spence & Brea pretty soon, I'd imagine.) Oh, and yes, Razzzberries is a quote taken directly from TMM. My friend Jenni (here in the top comment is a fellow fan of the movie and helped me create the blog). You have a good eye for the obscure musical link - you totally married into the right family!
And to the two j's, g & d - thanks. I'm a big fat sappy mess, esp around the 4th. Thanks for reading my list - most of which was complete mumbo-jumbo to you, I'm sure, since a lot of it was "home-town" stuff. :)
I love that you're Patriotic. I am too! There's this John Adams movie you should watch. It's like 6 hours long, but so worth every minute!
So we were we separated at birth or what? We are both passionate about cupcakes, and we're both totally cute and lovable! You have gotta go to Sprinkles! Can I just say the dark chocolate cupcake is undescribable!
I could only think of two quirks from your tag...not very interesting. I just learned last year that it's "coleslaw" and not "cold slaw" but I am too set in my ways to correct my error, and I also have to get a drink EVERYWHERE I go. I like fountain soda, 2/3 Diet Coke mixed with 1/3 Sprite. Oh, and I make up jokes all day long.
I think the cupcake is indescribable, not undescribable. Are either of those even words. Who knows!?
Another quirk...I love using the three dots, but I'm not really sure how to, and I love the exclamation point/question mark combo, see above.
Oh, Kimmie, I love you! (and I love the ... too - which settles it, YOU'RE MY TWIN!) :)
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