My daughter knows all of the words of "You're A Grand Old Flag" and she's known them since she was around 2ish. It is a cute, cute thing to hear her sing this song. I feel much more patriotic when she is wearing a spiffy flag-motif dress and singing than I would otherwise.

I hope this holiday will be terror-free. Seems like every holiday since 9/11 has been fraught with anxiety; but the horrible things happened on normal, uncelebrated days. Perhaps our collective grief is heightened on holidays, much like survivors' grief. And the media feeds on that and gets us jumpy. Or maybe the media is innocent and the government is trying to scare us. Or maybe the government and the media are trying to make us more careful and aware, because we let our guard down when we are having fun and enjoying ourselves.

I hope its the latter. I plan to let go of my war angst and just focus on my bizarre family issues for the holidays. The issues are complex enough for my brain to focus on, I truly don't need anything else. There will be good times, too, though: swimming with my children, they in their otherworldly goggles; lots of cold American beer swilled; fresh fruits and vegetables grown on an honest-to-goodness farm eaten. We've seen the obligatory holiday weekend blockbuster. Even gas prices have dropped some. So all is well and a happy Fourth of July should be had by all. Keep your eye on the grand old flag.