Fourth of July

How do you start a Fourth of July post without sounding trite?

1. I always cry when I hear marching bands. Especially if they play patriotic songs. I feel this welling up of pride and know what people sacrificed to enable me to hear that music, and I don't know, I just get emotional.

2. I cry at the movie "The Patriot." The British are just so cruel in that movie.

3. Last year, while student teaching, my supervising teacher had a former POW from World War II come in and speak to the students. I don't usually like war stories, but these gentlemen broke me up. He told this story about how he sent his mother an Easter lily before he shipped out. Then he got captured in Germany. His mother got the telegram he was MIA and the lily within days of eachother. He always kept his Bible in the camp and said it saved his life.

4. That leads me to another POW from the Revolutionary War. Andrew Jackson. During the war, he was captured. When a British soldier commanded Jackson to clean the commander's boots, Jackson replied, "I am your prisoner of war, not your slave." The commander took his sword and struck the young Jackson with it. Jackson bore the scars for the rest of his life. Years later, when Jackson was president, the commander gave Jackson the sword and they were cordial to eachother. Says alot about forgiveness.

5. When I was young, my family had I huge party on the Fourth one year. We had tons of bottle rockets. My older cousins had a bottle rocket wars between the farm buildings. I think the party went on for 3 days. They also had frog races. There was alot of gambling involved.

6. The high point of every Fourth was always fireworks. As children, we had a hard time understanding that we had to wait untill it was dark to shoot fireworks.

Vada

Summer Vacation

When I traveled through four states to teach here, I arrived with nothing but a carload of stuff I absolutely could not live without. For most of the school year, I lived with one chair, the tv, and some dishes. In the last couple weeks, I have acquired a couple couches and a chair. Yesterday, I bought a desk (which took three hours to put together.) And, I got some shelves for the kitchen. I fixed up my tiny bathroom in a dolphin motif. My little apartment is finally looking looking like a home.

Today, I went and cleaned my room at school. I brought home only two boxes. I was surprized. I thought I would bring more home. I was kinda sad to leave it. I can't wait to decorate it for the school year.

Tomorrow, I have laundry planned with starting the Understanding by Design book.