Happy 4th of July!

Have a happy, healthy and safe 4th of July holiday!!

 

 

 

Revisiting Childhood Memories

Yesterday I stepped back into the "way-back machine" and took a little ride back to my youth. I went to Gowrie, Iowa for the 4th of July. My sister and her family were there too. What prompted this? Well, my Uncle passed away in April and on Monday his ashes will be interred. So my sister decided to come down for the weekend and I hadn't seen her in ages, so I made the 2 1/2 hour drive up to northwest Iowa to visit.

So what did we do? Well, we walked past Grandma's house. Why is this a big deal pilgrimage?

Up until I was 12 or so we went to Gowrie every year and stayed at Grandma's house. We would watch the parade and celebrate the 4th. In the park in town, there was always a carnival. The American Legion sold beefburgers and amazing baked goods as a fundraiser and we swam at the pool. That evening we always attended the fireworks display in town too. As kids, we rode all the rides and at night, we could look out the upper story windows as we laid in bed and see the lights from the rides. It was great.


Well, we didn't relive all our childhood memories, but quite a few of them bubbled to the surface. I dragged myself out of bed early enough to get to Gowrie in time for the parade. Not only that, but I...yes, little ole me...secured us prime acreage for seating right along the parade route. The parade was pretty cool. The American Legion rolls out the flags of all the veterans who have passed away. We have at least three very important flags on those floats. Our grandfather, father and great uncle. I saw my dad's flad, which was pretty cool and sad at the same time.

The whole thing was quintessential small town. Two jets did a flyover to signal the start of the parade. Then we all stood as the colorguard went by, respectful silence for the flags of the fallen vets, kids running for candy, and everyone cheering for the motorcycles as they leaped off a ramp and did wheelies. I have to admit, there was a HUGE wait in the middle of the parade because the motorcycles held everything up, but they were worth it. They were good!

After the parade, we wandered into the park to look around. The line for the Legion booth was VERY long (yep, they still do their fundraiser - even after...oh LOTS of years). So we took a walk downtown to see if any restaurants were open there. A food booth or two. The Methodist church was doing a food fundraiser. We continued our amble through town and by the time we came back, all their chicken was gone so we ended up back in the park anyway.

We hit up the Legion booth. My sister was not impressed with the food, but the beefburgers tasted the same to me and I enjoyed them. Sadly, the baked goods were not as good as I remembered. Tasty, but not melt in your mouth, to die for good, they way they used to be. Of course back when I was a kid, most of the legion wives were just in off the farm and baked as a semi-civilized form of domestic combat. Nowadays, we cook out of a box. It's just not the same.

Then we went out to the cemetary to visit the graves of our mom and dad. My sister and I had a conversation. She said she hadn't been back to Gowrie for awhile because she didn't know anyone...at least not anyone alive. We both found that we knew far more people in the cemetary than we did when mixing with the populace in the park. It's just plain weird to wander a cemetary, point at a gravestone and say things like, "Oh I remember him/her. Didn't they do X?" etc. Maybe it's a sign of advancing age. Or maybe we should have visited more often.

Needless to say, it was an entertaining trip down memory lane. More on Tuesday.

Have a Happy, Healthy, and Safe 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!

The fourth of July is another one of those holidays that makes me think about the past. My past. My family's past. Every citizen's past.

But for a small group of rebels, tired of being used and abused, this country might never be. We might still be citizens of the United Kingdom. Now I have nothing against the UK. In fact, I'm a bit of an Anglophile, truth be told. But I think the world would have suffered for the lack of an independent nation of people that will look at one another and say, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

You know the best speech about democracy I ever heard was in a romantic comedy. A movie I expected to be fun and full of fluff. Yes, there was fluff. There was romance. There was fun. But there was also this incredibly powerful scene. I'm talking about The American President and the speech was recited by Michael Douglas. In part....

"...America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the 'land of the free'. "

I loved the movie because it was a great romantic comedy. But what I loved best about that movie was that quote. It gave me chills. It made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. There aren't a lot of speeches that do that to me. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" and JFK's Inaugural are the top two that come to mind. I'm sure there are others, but I can listen to those and find some new nuance every time.

Now you may not agree with me, but that's okay. That's what it's about. Dissent without fear. Protest without being labeled a traitor. That's why I'm thankful to live here.

Let it always be the law of the land!

Happy Independence Day everyone!