I was 11 years old for the Bicentennial and, oddly enough, was out of the country for the actual day. We were taking a typically weird Peterson vacation. Mom was in South America for work, and Dad joined her in Bolivia (I think). Sam and I stayed with family friends, then flew (by ourselves, which was kind of cool) first to Miami, where we had a five-hour layover, then to Panama, where we were picked up by a different family friend – and Mom and Dad flew in from the other direction to join us. We then spent days in Panama, Guatemala and ended up in (I think) Merida in Mexico. Through Mom’s work connections, we ended up at a 4th of July party at the ambassador’s (?) residence. They had a pool with an American flag painted on the bottom – I swam 200 laps in honor of the occasion, because that’s sort of thing you do when you’re 11.

Here we are 50 years later. And I think I’m content to be part of the general malaise that thinks that, if we’re truly going to celebrate the semiquincentennial, maybe now isn’t the time to do it. Like COVID-times, maybe we just put this on hold until some of the disaster clears up. I’m good with that.

I’ve opined about this before, but I think jingoism is nonsense. Of course I love my country, it’s mine. But proclaiming that America is GREAT just because it’s my country is like saying your house is the nicest on the block and ignoring the gutters which are falling off one side of the house. It’s ours, we have to take care of it and fix it. That being said, I believe in America’s professed ideals of equality and freedom for all, no matter how inept we have been about implementing that, or how many Americans are happy to proclaim that with fingers crossed behind their backs.

I don’t usually celebrate July 4th much anyway. I love hot dogs and hamburgers and potato salad and band concerts and patriotic music, but I don’t like crowds and heat and fireworks are loud. (no one asked me, but I think drone shows are the way to go there) I have no idea what I’m doing on Saturday, but it will probably involve dinner at a restaurant, then going home and watching Air Force One or The Contender or Dave or 1776 or such.

This upcoming long weekend has long been scheduled as a catch-up weekend after my frantic flurry of activity for the last few months. A time to reset the apartment, to do those quarterly things like washing the BIG linens (bedspread and so on), vinegarizing the coffee makers, sharpening knives and so on. Taking the winter coats to the cleaners. I’d planned to install the air conditioners, but weather has pushed that up – I’m probably installing the office one as soon as I post this, although I might wait on the bedroom one. (Thank goodness for ceiling fans. I have five of them.)

Yesterday I went to the office to take advantage of the cool, and was thinking of going to a show after work, or maybe a movie. But I had a heavy lunch (dumb) and didn’t feel great mid-afternoon and went home. And immediately passed out in the recliner and slept until 6:00. OK, so I wasn’t imagining whatever was going on. So, possible that the weather will get in the way of some of the house projects, because high heat and humidity means low energy. But… I’ve been thinking of this weekend as the dividing line between halves of the year, and it will be that, and I can start putting plans in place for how we’ll see 2026 out.

Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans! Just remember, everything changes eventually.