Celebrations

Well, we're recovering from the Fourth of July celebrations. We spend much of the day with family and friends, playing on trampolines

and swing sets (even mom and dad)

and eating steamed clams (mostly mom and dad), hots and hams and other goodies. The weather was exquisite, the company great.

As I look through the photos I took, I can't help but muse over what yesterday represented....our nation's freedom- but what does that really mean? I like to think of it in tiny applicable terms of our everyday life.....

The freedom to play and interact with family and friends, sometimes involving traveling across states. The freedom to eat what we want, when we want (including the freedom to shop "around the world" at Wegmans). The freedom to be healthy, with clean water, garbage disposal, clean air, and medical professionals basically in our backyards. The freedom to teach our children what we want to. The freedom to provide for our families with steady jobs that are in our area. The freedom to own what we want to (which includes the freedom to be in debt or not). The freedom to keep the laws of the land (and the freedom to have a say in who makes those laws) or choose not to and endure consequences of that decision. The freedom to get the education of our choice- with cost, of course, but oh, to be what you want to be! The freedom to say what we want about anything or anyone without drastic repercussions or fear. The freedom to pursue happiness, and the freedom to make mistakes. The freedom to worship how, where and what we may. The freedom to learn about who we are through the eyes of our children as they grow from day to day, becoming more and more like us (in spite of our efforts). The freedom to sleep peacefully at night in peace.

This is a blessed nation. I am reverent with gratitude for those in the military- past, present and future- who see the greater good and selflessly choose to give of themselves for us. So the fourth is over, but celebrating our freedoms should never be taken for granted.