The 4th of July

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As I sit here at 1 am-thinking about what I want to write about in honor of the 4th of July nothing really comes to mind that hasn't already been said better than I ever could and I think how could I honor this great country that I love so very much with mere words. I can't! So I will leave you with two things. Every time I hear"The Star Spangled Banner"-I get teary-eyed.

The Star Spangled Banner

By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly sworeThat the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,A home and a country should leave us no more!Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation!Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And this man-who loves me, his country and God! It don't get no better than that on the 4th of July!