Happy Independence Day, or Fourth of July or July 4th, whatever you want to refer to it as.

I’m a sucker for a good patriotic holiday. I especially love celebrating July 4th in my grandma’s town – it’s complete with a small town parade and great food and lots of red, white and blue. Love. We were up north a few years ago on this day so the husband also got to see what all the fuss was about.

I’m so grateful for all of the men and women who have served for our country, whether overseas or back here at home. I come from a family who has had several men in the service – Marines, Navy and Army.

Normally I’d throw a picture of our flag hanging outside our house, but then I found this picture of my brother on my work computer. It’s from two years ago, so I felt a bit safer about putting it out there.

I know I’m not alone when I say that I’m so proud of him. He’s in Iraq now, and we miss him like mad and can’t wait to see him again. (He’s also going to be the coolest uncle ever. And McLittle will be several months old by the time the two meet, so hopefully he’ll be a little more fun than a sleeping/crying/lying around newborn.)

We’re spending this Fourth of July traveling – driving back home since I have an appointment in the morning. I have no idea if we’ll see fireworks tonight, since the city of Asheville moved them to July 3 this year. We’ll see, though. Things could work out.