Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We are off to celebrate with friends. The city is empty. And tomorrow I'm even leaving the country.

Most 4th of July's pass without me giving any thought to the country, or citizenship. The fourth also happens to be the anniversary of when my lovely groom and I met. For me it wasn't love at first sight, but he tells an amazing story of how it was love at first sight for him. For me, it took months of his calling to realize he just wasn't going to go away until I dated him. Then he won me over. So today is 14 years! Kudos to his tenacity.

But this year for the first time I'm thinking about citizenship. This year I created a citizen. He had no choice in the matter. He may have an opinion down the road, but it is too late, once you take away the Chinese passport, he is extremely unlikely to ever get another. Was this fair? Will he care? Will it matter in the long run?

I am a citizen by birth. After years of international travel, and much third world travel, I realize that being born in the US is a major lottery ticket win. I wasn't born to a family that couldn't afford to feed me. I wasn't born into a family that was horrified by my look. I wasn't born into a family that kept me and offered me nothing but poverty. I was born into a family that was out going and loving, well beyond the reach of our front door. It was not a household that faced no obstacles, it was not a silver spoon, but still, I won a major lottery ticket.

Now, I worry about the country; are we curbing liberties inappropriately? Are the hate mongers necessary? Does prejudice have a long term role in our society? I'm not a flag waving American. But hey, we are doing some things right, some glorious things, and we'd be stupid not to celebrate those today.

I hope I contribute, along with every parent out there, to creating a society where we would want ANY child to live, not just our own, but ANY child. This to me is the celebration of the American spirit. We Americans don't assume everything is set in stone. We Americans actually assume that rules are written so we can break them. This is what I hope to give to my newest citizen. I hope he forgives me for the cultural break, the heritage lost. I hope both boys find love, happiness, and a spirit that craves learning. I hope they learn to understand the rules and then break those rules that need to be broken.

So next week I'm off to the country side in France. Just me, not the boys, not the hubby. Every year I try to sneak away for a week by myself. I have a huge independence streak and this week to myself really grounds me. I don't know if I'll be able to blog or not. I will try, but I'm literally out in the country, sleeping at farm houses, shooting landscape photography. But this year I leave with a renewed spirit. I'm the mom of two, wife of one, starter of businesses, maker of laughs and a woman who can do anything she puts her mind to if I stick with it. Yeah, tell me that is not the American spirit.

May the fireworks sparkle for you all!