This day, the Fourth of July, is my favorite holiday. I love it for a few reasons. I love the summer, and the warm nights that allow me to stay outside under the stars without hunching over from chill. I love that there are at least two more months of hot weather here in the mountains, which means morning hikes and afternoon pool time. I love that the Fourth is a good reason to spend extra time with friends and family, and eat stone fruit, and make ice cream, and wear swimsuits.
But I mostly love Independence Day because I love the ideas that power this country. And America *is* an idea. I was proud, growing up, to understand that here, every person is created equal; that we are endowed by the creator (or universe, what have you) with certain undeniable and everlasting gifts; that those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that government is not meant to be a punchable, physical entity but a notion, which arises from the consent of us, the people; and so on.
These are good ideas. They are still revolutionary ideas. The pursuit of happiness as something to which we are entitled — this is a wildly audacious thought, even still. That phrase in particular has always stuck out to me as profoundly American.
You might be able to guess where this is going.
This year the Fourth is a little different.
I am hiding out this year in the mountains, with friends and family like I usually want to do, but only with a select few. I did not hang flag bunting on my house like usual. I didn’t buy my kids matching red, white, and blue outfits. I am not really going to participate as usual, I guess is what I mean. I am too exhausted by sadness. It is hard to lose a parent and a country in the same 12-month period.
But part of me still can’t let go. I want to honor the idea that the United States of America is, and to celebrate the things that *should* be, the things that still could be if we hold on. The ideas our people had 250 years ago are still good ideas. We can still work to meet them.
I guess hope is profoundly American too.
There is a small flag in my yard, planted by my youngest, who loves every holiday. It is under the tree we planted for my mom, which matches her favorite tree at my family home. The tree and the flag are both small this year. They are mostly in the shade, not big enough to reach full sunlight. Not yet. The tree and the flag both seem a little hesitant. But they are there. They are trying, like I am. Happy 4th, however you need it to be right now.
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Image: Apollo 15 pilot Jim Irwin salutes the flag on the surface of the Moon in August 1971. NASA image via Wikimedia Commons