The Fourth Day of July

This weekend we celebrated the 4th of July by getting together with my side of the family, which seems to be growing bigger each year. Since some of my older siblings have kids that have moved away or kids that have married and have kids of their own, it feels like we've gotten quite scattered over the years. It makes for a fun time as we try to catch up with everyone. Seeing the younger generation interacting and getting to know each other is fun in itself.

We had lots of fun shooting clay pigeons, flinging arrows, swimming, playing Cornhole, along with eating some really good chicken and smoked salmon and everything else imaginable. And with some great fireworks and good conversations around the fire, I couldn't help but be thankful for the freedoms that we have in this country.

As our walks through life have become more varied, and the open spaces have become smaller, and  the pursuit of happiness is different for different people, it makes it difficult to agree on the specifics, especially when someone else's rights infringe on mine, or mine on theirs. But as we give and take, we can still find room for that pursuit of happiness. Sometimes it's important to put others' rights above our own. It will usually come back around. If we could all love our neighbor as ourselves, and put that into practice, and if we somehow tied it to the Declaration of Independence, we would be one great country, one great country indeed!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Let freedom ring!