4th of July Celebration

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Like everything else in 2020 the celebration for the 4th of July was different.

Different for us because we actually went somewhere!

We gathered at my sister-in-laws house and while there wasn’t a whole lot of attention paid to the virus we were outside and there was a lot of room.

A lot of food too.

And a fireworks display that was more than what my town put on back when I was a kid.

As I often do at parties these days I sit back on the periphery of a lot of conversations.

I like to watch the kids play and it’s always fun to see my wife with her siblings.

They’ve had a really tough year and we missed those who’ve left us, but the thing about life is...

...it goes on.

I often think of Tom Joad’s Mom in the Grapes of Wrath and how as they made their journey, they suffered loss.

“What will we do now?” Tom Joad’s father asks.

“We keep going,” is essentially what her answer was.

That’s what I thought of this 4th of July and America in general.

We’ve suffered...

...we’re moving ahead.

Different, for sure.

Sad as hell, for many.

Uncertain for us all.

But ahead.

I had a full plate of good food.

I laughed a little.

Shared a lot.

And went to bed tired.

As the fireworks exploded in the sky everywhere I did think of America.

We have work to do, but the spirit to do it.

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