Happy 250th Birthday America!

250 years ago, a group of men sat down, and with concurrence from their respective Continental Congress legislators (except New York), issued a Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. Battles ensued, people died, fortunes were lost. All of this happened so that they, and future generations, could live free of capricious rule of monarchs.

As a dependent of a US government employee stationed overseas for most of my growing-up years, one of the things I cherished was celebrating Independence Day at the US Embassy (Liberia, Laos, and Thailand).

I had hoped to experience the bicentennial in all it’s glory, but alas, that was not meant to be. As a 14-year-old, I didn’t have a driver’s license or access to a car, and for some reason, my parents left me home to mow the lawn while they went out to celebrate (Seriously? WTH?). I thought about that yesterday as I looked at my damp lawn and thought to myself, This needs mowing. I thought I would wait a day, and hopefully it would dry. But then I realized, the following day would be Independence Day, our country’s 250th Birthday. No way in hell would I spend it mowing. So, yesterday, I spent time slipping and sliding around my wet, sloped lawn, mowing.

Today, I’ll spend it celebrating. Enumclaw has a parade at noon. I’ll be going. Later, we’ll be hosting some dear friends (one of who owns a bookstore in Sumner, WA – visit it and spend money!) for a salmon bake. Then, I’ll likely head back into town and drive around, watching the illegal (again, WTH) fireworks being shot off all over the place (Enumclaw is near the Muckleshoot Reservation – guess what they sell during holidays traditionally celebrated with fireworks?).

I might even spend some time working on Reset. Actually, I likely will. If nothing else, a main theme of my books is liberty in the Heinlein and H. Beam Piper tradition (guess which two authors had a huge impact on my political perspective).

Like George Carlin, I don’t say I’m “proud” to be an American, because that implies I did something to earn it. I didn’t. I won the lottery of life when I was born an American. I am grateful to be an American. I am happy to be an American, and I unabashedly love my country (but hate the politicians – something I guess I learned from Samuel Clemens).

I hope you have a safe and enjoyable Independence Day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!