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Dear Friends,

I know I keep celebrating holidays a week too late, but happy Independence Day! How was your Fourth? I hope it was filled with celebrations of all kinds.

My Fourth of July was interesting this year. I was staying up in Island Park, ID at my uncle’s cabin (near the west entrance of Yellowstone) and instead of watching fireworks with the rest of the family at a lake’s edge nearby, I stayed back, alone with the dogs. It had been a long day and I got hit with indigestion right after dinner. Basically, it didn’t sound like a good idea for me to be in a crowd nowhere near reliable bathrooms. (TMI??)

As I lay on the couch, I listened to booming fireworks in the distance and tried to comfort my aunt’s neurotic dog as he howled in her absence. I found a rendition of “What a Beautiful World” that I had on my computer, though lack of Wi-Fi prevented me from tracking down my favorite version of that song. Louis Armstrong almost turns it into a hymn for me. I love listening to him sing it whenever I watch fireworks. I cry every time.

In my severe lack of celebration that night, I still wore my Mt. Rushmore shirt that I packed specifically for the Fourth of July. I do love our country.

Almost exactly one year ago, some of my friends and I made the pilgrimage to Mt. Rushmore to celebrate our Independence Day with the Presidents. It was a magical and memorable trip in many ways, but mostly because it was the last big trip I did with some of my favorite people before I moved to Arizona. It also fulfilled a bucket list item, as one of my best friends Sarah and I had been trying to get to Mt. Rushmore for FIVE YEARS. She, of course, was on the trip.

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Sarah England and I, celebrating finally making it to Rushmore.

 

The trip was fast, but it was nearly perfect. We made a stop in the Badlands, where we felt like it could’ve been the end of the world. The Wind Caves came next and we discovered South Dakota has been keeping that place a secret for way too long, unanimous in our decision that it was one of the most beautiful places we’ve seen. At one point, we spontaneously swam in a picturesque lake to cool off. Finally, our trip culminated to Mt. Rushmore on the Fourth of July. We dressed up in the most patriotic and color-coordinated outfits we had (thank goodness for the Red, White, and Blue!) and celebrated the nation we adore.

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That night, we watched fireworks at a baseball field near our little cheap motel and ate watermelon. It really couldn’t have been a more quintessentially American day. It was so lovely to be with the friends I love so much. Then, as the fireworks began to launch, we listened to Louis tell us about what a wonderful world it is. In that moment, as in so many others, I couldn’t agree with him more.

I agree that there are so many dark and scary things happening in the world and even right in our own country. But I’m grateful for the memories I’ve made and experiences I continue to have with my friends and family that remind me that I can still have hope and see beauty in the world around me.

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“What a Wonderful World”

I see trees of green,
red roses too.
I see them bloom,
for me and you.
And I think to myself,
what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

The colors of the rainbow,
So pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces,
Of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands.
Saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying,
“I love you”.

I hear babies cry,
I watch them grow,
They’ll learn much more,
Than I’ll ever know.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

Oh yeah.

Let us all try to keep faith in the world around us.

Your hopeful friend,

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