The 4th of July reminds me of three things.
Hot dogs. Sparklers. And Whistles.
The whistle has been drilled into my head after years of spending the fourth at my Grandma and GRAMPA’s house. The fourth was Grandma’s holiday…every time she randomly shrieked her whistle the family was instructed to yell “HAPPY 4TH OF JULY”.
You had to.
No matter what you were doing.
“HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!”
She liked that whistle.
A little too much. Because we did an awful lot of yelling “HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!”
While in Greece my husband made great friends with a Greek bartender named Nico. Her talked all about the political unrest happening in there. Pat asked him about the financial stability of the country and Nico asked Pat if what he heard about America was true.
“Is it true you can just choose to be whatever you want to be? That you can just decide on a career and do it?”
And it IS true. Amazing isn’t it? The things we take for granted.
Here in America you can be anything you want to be.
Dream big.
Reach for the stars we say!
With the right amount of money, time, education, work, sucking up, connections, dedication, seniority, practice, luck, and I suppose a tidbit of talent…you can do anything!
Or nothing at all.
The freedom to make that choice is a beautiful thing. You can work your butt off to be the whistle blower or you can happily cram hot dogs down your throat and wave your sparklers until the whistle blower shrieks her whistle and forces you to scream “HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!”
God Bless the red, white, and blue.
And have a HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Happy 4th to you to. With no whistles..
You seem to have got very pregnant while in Greece. Obviously the virility of Mediterranean men should not be underestimated!
Yes…the Mediterranean men are IRRESISTIBLE!
Happy Fourth!
I wonder if you have to suppress the urge to scream “happy 4th of July” when you hear a whistle at other times of the year.
I do. It’s just a natural reaction at this point.
It’s always to interesting to learn about non-Americans’ views of the US, both good and bad.
Have a great day!
I agree! I was fascinated by the questions he had about America!
Happy 4th!!
Beautiful (even the photo, haha). This is a terrific, real-life example of freedom’s promise. I love it.
What a great post. Choose to be whatever you want, or not, it’s up to you :)
Happy 4th….thought to drop by and follow before I set up the BBQ….in these troubled times we must be happy living in the land of the free….so enjoy and never forget those who fight for us to have this freedom….
Love the Idea of family traditions no matter what they maybe. Guess I shoudl start a few of my own……….
Who knew Nico was so wise? I just thought he was a heavy pour.
Did I mention Pat got Nico’s email address? My social husband…such a nerd.
We should have taken Nico to the Acropolis to be our tour guide instead of that crazy Greek woman.
And we wonder why so many people will do whatever it takes to come here.
You said it well. Choice is what independence is all about. Happy 4th!
Interesting to hear what others think about the U.S.
Happy 4th!
Love, love, LOVE the whistle idea! I think my grandchildren are young enough to think that’s cool….I may have to do this! Happy 5th (sorry I’m late in commenting!)
I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me to keep the whistle blowing going this year with my own kids…I could definitely get some satisfaction out of being the one in charge. :)
We do take a lot for granted in this country. Sometimes I wish I could take a trip with my child around the world so he could see how other’s live and be a little more appreciative.
Love the pic too ;)
We Americans are pretty damn lucky, aren’t we?
Are you preggers? If so, congrats! If not, you sure are a cute pregnant person. Why am I surprised?!
Also, I LOVE the t-shirt. I went to UofA!
No, that picture was taken a week before #3 was born. So hideous. I hiked my pants up as high as I could and started dancing with the sparklers. It was a hideous display of dancing belly. :) But thank you.