God Bless the United States of America

Okay....so Christmas is still  my favorite holiday.  Even as an adult.  However, Independence Day is a very close second.  

I love the United States of America.  I choke up when ever the National Anthem is sung.  When every single fan at the Boston Garden drowned out Rene Rancourt at the first Bruins game after the Boston Marathon Bombings, I sobbed.  Hard.  I am so proud and grateful to live here, I am consumed by it sometimes.  Usually my life is too chaotic to slow down and really think about how blessed and lucky we are.  But July 4th is a day we have to stop and appreciate what we have.   

We had a party.  I was so stressed out before the party because I wanted my house and yard to look good.  Then, the closer we got to the day of the party, I realized that A.)  all of my friends are working moms and dads that are as busy or busier than I am B.) my friends value the rare opportunity to get together and see and talk to each other again and C.) after three weeks of rain, there was NO way I was going to conquer the jungle our country acre had become.  The pool was clean, the bathrooms were clean and the rest of the house was mostly clean.  Done.  I didn't care that there were weeds growing up through every crack in our brick walkway.  I didn't care that weeds surrounded the outside of the pool fence.  I didn't care that there was dust on most of the surfaces in the house.  Nobody else cared either.  

How did I celebrate this country's birthday?  I got to spend a beautiful summer day with my family and the my very best friends and know that we live in the best place in the world.