Grateful For Freedom!

I've always been grateful that I live in this country. As a young teenager, it came in the form of delinquency-I flipped off an officer. (Don't think less of me, this guy was so completely and unnecessarily rude to my mom that I felt it only my duty to let him know how I felt) It struck me as we resumed our drive that in many countries around the world, I would''ve been arrested and possibly even killed for my disrespect. Now, as trivial as this occurance may seem, my young and not-so-innocent heart was struck at how lucky I was. For the simple freedom to speak my mind. What did I do to deserve this gift? Why is it that there are so many who don't have it? I can't answer those two questions. But I've remembered that experience for my whole life. The only thing I can do is recognize it and give thanks to those who have given it to me.
So for this time of year that means almost as much to me as Christmas, mom and I celebrated together. We had plans to go to the Capital, but due to a very obnoxious paper that my mom had to finish, she didn't end up getting here until saturday morning. We decided it would be too stressful to try and get down there, so we thought we'd have a little fun around town. We ended up at a cherry orchard and picked some absolutely lovely cherries.





We joined Aunt Sherma, Uncle David, and Grandma for a cookout that night. The next day, I pulled everyone (Mom, Grandma, and yes, even Dad) out to the porch for a smores cooking. It wasn't quite what I had expected (who knew that charcoal isn't the greatest for smores?) but we still enjoyed gooey goodness.



Later that night mom and I went to the big fireworks show at Long's Park. This is an incredible show and only those who have seen it know what I"m talking about.



Every July fourth, I try to revow to never take my freedom for granted. There may be MANY issues we have with our government or the way things are handled, but I want to keep it in the uppermost of my mind that I can at least state my opinion and be heard and not silenced.