Hello. With all due respect to our readers and friends outside the United States, we’re celebrating here on Friday. Our nation turns another year older and … we all hope … wiser. There will be parades, fireworks, and hot dogs to commemorate July 4, 1776.
And, somewhere in your town, an older gentleman will rise from his bed, shower, dress, and put on a cap with strange letters and numbers that represent a squadron or ship. Should you see this man, stop him and ask him about it. He wants to tell the story. He deserves to tell the story. You’ll be glad you had him tell the story.
Living here in the United States for all of my 48 years, I’ve taken this for granted:
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” – Erma Bombeck
Did you know…
- Thirty places nationwide have “liberty” in their name. The most populous one is Liberty, Missouri (26,232). Iowa has more of these places than any other state: four (Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty).
- Eleven places have “independence” in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Missouri, with 113,288 residents.
- Five places adopted the name “freedom.” Freedom, California, with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
- There is one place named “patriot” — Patriot, Indiana, with a population of 202.
- And what could be more fitting than spending the day in a place called “America”? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, with 21,941 residents.
- More than 66 million Americans will participate in a barbecue this weekend.
- The U.S. will import more than $135 million in fireworks for this holiday.
- The U.S. will export more than $650,000 in American Flags this year (Japan is the leading customer).
- They will fly more than 125,000 different U.S. Flags over the nation’s capitol in Washington D.C. this year.
You’ve been sending some great stuff lately. You know we’ve more than tripled our audience since we started this silly little dream a few months ago. Just one little thing to make you smile every couple weeks. What’s making you smile these days? Please feel free – at any time - to send me something to smile about!
No super-secret password link this week.
And here are the perfect it’s-a-holiday-at-least-in-America links.
Big Smiles!
Lynn P.
Editor
Something To Smile About
