God Bless the USA

A hot dog, a beer, and a game of baseball with my family followed up with some wonderful fireworks for our little Ohio suburban town; it was a wonderful culmination to a great 4th of July weekend!  As I enjoyed the feel of the baseball stadium I was reminded, once again, why the US is such a wonderful place to call home.  Here is just a tiny percentage of the US doing what so many are all doing around the country, enjoying our freedom.  The focus of the day isn't on power, politics, or bravo.  It is about every day Americans celebrating what our founding fathers and those that followed worked so hard to establish and maintain.  The day can be about picnics, lake-front fun, barbecues, friends and family, pleasure, passion, and fun!

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck

Next to us at the baseball game was a very friendly couple in their 50s.  They smiled at our family, chuckled at the boys' silliness at times (when Mom and Dad didn't chuckle so much) and they OH SO kindly didn't grumble one bit any time one of us needed to get by them to get to the aisle-way; why oh why did 6 year-old *C* need to go to the bathroom umpteen times in two hours?!  Silly question, I know. 

After the game was fireworks and the stadium played some patriotic music during all of it.  Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" came on.   One of my favorite.   As we enjoyed the fireworks and Lee Greenwood's song I noticed my neighbor wiping tears from her eyes.  I couldn't help but wonder what her story was.  Why the tears? Was it joy, sorrow or just overwhelming emotion?  My story is simple: I love God. I love my family. I love being of service to those that serve our country with such dedication and sacrifice.  What a wonderful day to be passionate about a country that means so much to me!

- Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.com