Cause baby you're a firework.....

Well, we just celebrated the 4th of July yesterday. Really we've been celebrating all weekend. The girls got to go see my brother and his new band, Always Frantic, play in McHenry and watched fireworks after that looking out over a beach. It was actually really nice. While it started off REALLY stinking hot, it ended up being pretty pleasant. On Sunday my FIL came over for a cookout and a movie (Ironman 2). Yesterday (the 4th) was very nice as well. The girls played in their pool, which was thankfully set up over the weekend (it's given them hours of entertainment). We saw more fireworks last night. They were excellent, as they usually are. It was nice to be able to sit there on that blanket with my kids and close friends having ice cream, playing with glow sticks and then able to kick back and watch the colorful explosions. I know people tend to get sappy over the holidays for one reason or another and usually I am resistant to it. Not this time.... On Saturday, while we were watching fireworks, music was playing. Of course they played the song Firework, which just kind of jazzes you up, especially if you are WATCHING fireworks while it's playing. But then they play Proud to Be an American. I don't know what it is about that particular song, but I could just feel myself swell with pride for our country and get that all too familiar knot of sadness for all the soldiers that can't be with their families because they are so busy fighting for our freedoms. I have really become quite emotional about stuff like that. There is a picture that circulates the internet of soldiers who are on their way out and one little girl doesn't want her dad to leave so she is standing in line with him, holding his hand. That picture makes me tear up all the time. All a child knows is that their dad is going away. It's easy to tell them all the reasons why their dad (or mom) is fighting, but it's a lot harder to justify those reasons when you have to tell them that their mom or dad isn't coming home. It hardly seems fair, but these kids and these wives and husbands and families are also fighting for our freedoms. They should be honored and respected. We should honor them every day by exercising our freedoms, by living life to the fullest, by appreciating our family, friends, loved ones. There are just so many people I know that are wasting their lives away because it's easier that way, because I think deep down they are afraid to live, they are afraid to do things for themselves. But out of respect for a soldier, we SHOULD do things ourselves, because we CAN. All thanks to a soldier.