Made a deadline… 9300 word short done and submitted to the slush pile. Now the waiting begins!
Coming up on 4th of July and the long weekend, I was thinking back over the years and the things we do to celebrate the holiday. This whole thing got started yesterday in the grocery store when three of us in line (a LONG line), all retired military, starting talking about the ‘old days’…
Depending on where we were at the time, the 4th was another day at work for most of us in the military, at least if you were on the operational side. The retired USAF guy hit that nail on the head with his comment about ‘holiday’ for admin and ‘routine’ for everybody else! Sigh…
I do remember landing in Stavanger, Norway one 4th of July in a snowstorm! LOL
I spent a number of years in northern Virginia, and had an apartment with a BIG balcony, directly across the river from the Mall, so lots of folks ‘invited’ themselves over (and brought food), and we would sit on the balcony and watch the fireworks and eat.
Other times it was a holiday ‘celebrated’ on the road due to testing. It’s funny how other countries see our Independence Day, and their comments. The Italians baked us a red, white, and blue cake! The Aussies wanted to talk about what America means to us, and that was question after question over way too many beers. That usually segued into discussions of sports played in the various countries and our complete lack of understanding of Cricket (STILL don’t get that)…
Now, six years into total retirement, well other than trying to write books, we’ve kinda established a ‘tradition’ with the North Texas Troublemakers. Supper on Saturday, burgers and brats on the 4th, and sitting in my driveway watching the local fireworks a block away, then the further fireworks displays…LOL
So 30 years later, I’ve come full circle. I’m still proud of what I did in service, and afterward working for DOD. I don’t regret any of it, and sometimes I have to work hard to keep my mouth shut at some of the things I see going on.
Patriotism has come, gone, come again, and now appears to be disappearing again (at least in the younger generations). Our little town was putting out flags yesterday, all over town, and the town flies a huge flag year round up by 287 that can be see for miles. I hear more and more people saying they are willing to leave the US, and it’s hard to NOT tell them to get gone.
They don’t realize how good they have it here! Freedom of speech, plenty of fresh food, clean water, ease of transportation, entertainment, etc. Their view of the ‘world’ is obviously one seen through rose colored glasses and their social media networks, never understanding that the ‘world’ they see is carefully curated to maximize the lure of those foreign locations.
They don’t see the abject poverty, the deaths from what would be minor infections here, the repression by the governments, the lack of food, clean water, etc. And they don’t realize there is no reset button that gives them a new life. That isn’t and never has been reality…
Anyhoo, I’m going to sit over here and enjoy what I have, and the friends I will spend time with over the weekend, and the food I will enjoy.
