American pride

There are a lot of people in the world who aren’t particularly fond of Americans right now, and I’m not saying they don’t have valid complaints. However, when the 4th of July rolls around, I’m especially proud to be an American. Take out the politics and the wrong turns the country has taken throughout history, and the ideal of America is pretty awesome. It’s a land founded on freedom, and that’s a powerful idea and something of which to be immensely proud. I felt that American pride (along with a sense of relief) when the Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off into the beautiful blue Florida sky today.

I watched the launch, praying for the crew’s safety. I’ll be doing the same when they return to Earth. But for now, the launch was amazing. We have friends from college who work for NASA, so we’re big supporters of the space program. I’m hoping that we can travel to Florida to watch a launch before the end of the Space Shuttle program in a few years. I think that would be one of those awesome, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Firecrackers and fireworks have been going off all over the neighborhood tonight, background noise as I finally got down to business and got some serious writing done. I cranked out 16 pages, so I hope this means I’m over my slump.

Another proud moment came yesterday when I picked the first ripe tomatoes off the two plants I put in pots on the front porch. Our back yard is too shady for a garden, so potted tomatoes are about all I’m going to get. It’s almost funny how proud I was of this little group of roma tomatoes.

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