First of All, Congratulations, America!! 

On the 249th Commemoration of the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted!!  (Next year it will be 250 years!)

Since we officially declared we were a Free Country!

After fighting, losing their livelihoods to be able to enjoy our freedoms.

After people dying, fighting for our freedoms.

And after many, many people losing their lives through the many years… fighting for the Freedoms we have.

There was much suffering for this experiment in government to even begin.

Since then, the US has grown from 13 colonies to 50 states and 14 territories.

Our United States has had the achievements of producing the

light bulb,

modern flight,

the internet,

air conditioning, and

movies—just to name a very few things. 

We have more than 2.7 million miles of power lines, electrifying our country across over 4 million miles of paved roads. 

Over 90% of US households access broadband internet.

But most of all…We are a Free Country.  Our laws are made by our own people, that we elect.  That’s how we’re set up.  What a Blessing!

And that’s the reason we celebrate this holiday.  Let’s SOOO appreciate our Freedom!

In this time that we’re living right now, there are so many in our country who don’t realize the importance of this holiday, and all the sacrifices made by the founding fathers of our country…

how they hammered out the constitution…

the weighty decisions they made against so much controversy…

so that we could enjoy freedom in the USA.

So… Let’s DO appreciate our heritage…

We each have freedom to decide whatever religion we want…

We have the freedom to speak freely… even to criticize our own government;

The press has freedom to print without being told what to print;

We’re free to assemble ourselves wherever we want, without being persecuted by our government;

We have the right to “bear arms”

We have freedom from unreasonable searches of our spaces;

In addition, we also have “rights”, such as:

Our personal rights in criminal prosecutions;

Our protection against cruel punishments…

So… Really… Let’s Truly Appreciate our Freedoms—that other countries don’t have.

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I hope you’re able to enjoy this holiday.

My intention this year, was to take full advantage of it!

Last year I enjoyed it from Lake Ouachita, in Rural Western Arkansas, camping with family.

It was my intention to go back this year, but early Monday morning my husband got a wrench in his back, and ended up in trying to feel better, laying on the floor for a couple of hours with quilts and pillows, unable to move his legs.

(He’s better now, but it has caused quite a bit of trauma overall, and I’m just not good with him being home by himself in case he falls.  He’s walking, but not very steady.)

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My sunrises at home are beautiful, but I’ll miss the ones at the lake (and the sunsets are magnificent there!),  and I’ll miss morning coffee outside by the lake with my sister.  And I’ll miss my daughter’s and son-in-law’s camp cooking, and just enjoying the time with family on the water, and enjoying camping, which is a definite treat for me!

But I can plan on a new camping trip next year, and I have no doubt I’ll be enjoying the holiday some way this year, at home.  If he’s up to it, we may invite friends over, but whatever we do, it’ll be special!

Do you take any time off?

Everyone should “take time off”! 

I’ve taken lots of vacations in my life…

AND I’ve gone lots of years without any vacation at all! 

When my three children were small, our little family would take a vacation almost every year.  We went to as many states as we could.  We would always drive.  And usually visit relatives along the way.  We also camped a lot… in a tent.  We loved it.

Those were great times!

In more recent years, when my husband and I were building our real estate business (that was challenging on its own—listing, selling, managing the office with all its challenges, and doing all the paperwork…) and also managing the agents—that was a new kind of challenge.

At that same time in addition to real estate, we were having estate/moving auctions almost every Saturday.  Some weeks we had them on Friday AND Saturday.  That included taking most of a day to visit the location and list the items. 

It included making an ad for the newspaper and getting it to them by their Monday morning deadline.  Then going out early on auction day (before McDonald’s opened many times) to set out and organize the items to be auctioned.  Oh…and then actually conducting the auction—usually all day, at least.

We also had cattle (I don’t know how many but he usually has between 100-200 head) to be tended to.

So I know how it is to be super-busy and unable to “take a vacation”.

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Yes, sometimes you can’t fit a vacation in.  But when that happens, it’s nothing to feel really bad about—just enjoy something about where you’re at…so you won’t feel deprived.  There is always something to appreciate and enjoy.

(You could even have it as your goal to enjoy your life, the way it is, and where you are…while you make goals to make it exactly the way you want it.)

Vacation doesn’t have to be a trip, either.  It can be taking a day, or even a half-day, to do something you want to do.  Something you can enjoy.

Whether it’s cooking, gardening, sitting in the sun, hiking in the woods, taking a picnic lunch somewhere other than where you are—even in the back yard; or even enjoying a few minutes with a friend over coffee …just anything.

Any change of scenery in your life—short or long—can give you a boost. 

So if I had been able to follow through with camping this year, it would be the second year to join part of my family on their summer camping trip. 

My husband doesn’t “camp”…he has cattle…and a dog…that “need him at home”.  And we have no camper.  So, last year, I thought… Looks like a no-go.  But I really wanted to go.

I did not know you could actually rent a camper, to be delivered and set up.  And that when you get there, the air would be cool… and it would be furnished with linens, coffee pot, and those kinds of things.  But I searched anyway… and found a company that does exactly that.

So before I knew it, there I was … spending the whole week camped on the lake, eating food cooked outside (well, sandwiches too), enjoying the boat, and the lake—and the kids.  And just enjoying the “outdoors”.   How did that happen??

Because last year… I decided… I REALLY wanted to go… So I searched… and found a way.

I would get up early at camp (the farm life ingrained in me I suppose) and I loved the quiet of the mornings there, at the lake.  It’s perfect to enjoy that first (and second) cup of coffee watching the early morning sun come up before “the neighborhood” wakes up.

There were a lot of other campers there.  But it’s a quiet, family area and I felt the peace outside in the morning drinking my coffee.  What a treat!

Some of the family was spaced out into different areas, but not too far for my sister to walk to share morning coffee (what a treat!!)… and we were all able to get together to boat to a nice area to swim together.

My daughter and son-in-law and nephew are able to scuba dive, looking for random treasures; others of us just enjoyed the lake water (which we were able to do just about every day).

Tired at night?  Yes, I was! 

Sleeping well?  Yes, I sure did!

And I missed that this year, but all I have to do is decide to do it again!

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My first message to you this week is to appreciate and enjoy your freedoms.

My second message to you this week, is to ENJOY your life.   You can do it.  Do it in random ways that you don’t just squeeze in…but that you actually plan, and squeeze some other little thing, out.  Try it.  Please just try it. 

You may have to take the time.  It probably won’t jump on you and show you you can do it.  You may have to force it your life to shift to give you the space to do this.  But once you do it, then do it again, you’ll begin to see that you actually can do things you want. 

Maybe you can choose only one thing now, to add.  Maybe not able to do it as often as you want.  But it’s only the beginning.  Take the Time.  Start out with one little thing.

And if you “can’t right now”, determine to try it anyway.  In some little way.  I challenge you to try it.

(Oh… And Appreciate the fact that in some countries all this isn’t possible.  Appreciate that we have all the freedoms to come and go as we please, with who we please.  Freely.)

Have a Blessed Week.

Love your Life.

Love your people.

(If you don’t have your people, you will do yourself a great favor to find some…make some.  Someone is probably out there looking for you… make yourself friendly…that’s probably all you’ll have to do.)

And Remember to Appreciate your Freedoms…

And Here’s to the next 249 years for our Great Country!!

Thank you for reading.

Eat as good as you can…Rest as much as you can…But ENJOY YOUR LIFE…AND ENJOY YOUR PEOPLE!

Sharon