Happy Birthday, America, more or less

And, yes, I know, many people say it is jingoistic and/or ethnocentric of us to call our homeland America. But::::::::that is how we are known in Europe and at least the part of Asia I have spent time in now. When they ask you where you are from and you say United States, they usually respond, "America." Most people have relatives there, and a fair number have actually been there. On that note, I often try to tell them I am from Seattle, but once someone said "Oh! all the snow in Alaska!" Other times, I try to explain...West Coast, on The Pacifico...near Canada...northwest U.S...and about half the time now I just say California, which registers instantly. It's not too big a jump after all...I've lived there and been there at least 20 times in the last 18 months.

This is the second time I've been away from the States on the 4th of July. The first time, we were with our long-time vacation pals the Hokits on Salt Spring Island in Canada. Our kids (minus Claire, she claims) put on red, white and blue facepaint and were very cranky about Canadians ignoring the 4th, not to mention the fact that they had no fireworks. Yes, they were unable to make the almost sacred Hejira to Boom City to buy the real (aka not "Safe and Sane"), dangerous, fireworks. I think somehow the Tulalip Tribe was still somehow able to make their payroll, and that massive pre-4th logjam on Interstate 5 probably still occurred.

As Henry Gibson said in his song in the great Altman movie Nashville, "We must be doing something right to last 200 years." Over here you realize what an infintesimal drop in the bucket that 200 years really is (sorry to end with a preposition...sometimes it's just easier).

Jack, July 4th, 2007, Ródhos, Hellas, Europa

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