Thoughts on July 4

Many of you are aware of my passion for veterans. Without the dedication and service of those who fought in previous wars and conflicts, many of us wouldn’t be here today.

A year ago the United States and France, among other countries, observed the 75th anniversary of the landing at Normandy. There may even be some veterans who attended those observances who are no longer with us today.

As I think about the July 4 Holiday this Saturday and the long weekend ahead, I always reflect on my dad. Next month will mark 32 years since he passed away. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t have him in my thoughts.

He was 64 years old when he left us. That’s pretty young in today’s world and was then when he died.

Reflection of July 4 and some of the meaning for me is that we as Americans should always remember the freedoms, liberties, rights and privileges we have today. Those in many other countries should never forget the freedoms they enjoy today are because of our veterans.

My wife said to me last year we need to get our flag out and remember to fly it this Fourth of July. It’s not a very big flag. In fact it’s small. But size of the flag doesn’t make any difference.

It’s the thought that counts and proudly displaying it is what’s important.

She recently told me, “I want to us have a flag pole. We’ve never had an actual flag pole. And if there’s ever a time we should have one, it’s now.”

She’s serious about that. I’m on a mission to find one and install it, though I know I’ll need help.

Families and friends will gather this weekend for celebrations. Not sure how the pandemic will impact some of these, but many I suspect will get creative.

A lot of them involve shooting off fireworks. They’re already shooting them off in our neighborhood, and it’s legal. We’re out of any city limits.

Others may hold picnics, cookouts, going to lakes. There’s plenty of activities to enjoy.

Last year Pat suggested we include in our plans shooting off some fireworks. We did just that for the first time in many years.

We hadn’t done that for quite a few years. Not sure why we stopped doing that, we just did. Cooking on the grill was part of the activities we enjoyed. We haven’t stopped doing that and always enjoy it still.

At this point, not sure what our July 4 activities will be. To my knowledge, don’t think they’ve been finalized.

Regardless of what we do, it will be enjoyable because we have a day to spend with some family members relaxing, probably grilling and enjoying one another.

It may well include shooting off fireworks for the second consecutive year. We rediscovered that can be fun, too!