Being so far away from home has made me start to think more about the years I spent growing up on the Georgia coast and all the many aspects of life back home that I took for granted.  Today especially, on the 4th of July, I am reminded of home and the simple pleasures of life there.  July the 4th is one of biggest holidays celebrated in my family.  This day that marks the birthday of our freedom and independence in America became a day not very different from Thanksgiving for us.  Of course the food and festivities were different, but the overall celebratory nature of the day has always been one of thankfulness and the sweet company of time spent with family.  The days were always spent lounging on the beach or by my aunt's pool, wandering through the booths at the Sunshine Festival, gathering for an evening cookout, then watching the fireworks shoot out their magic over the ocean.  My memories of this holiday are full of exquisite images that paint the picture of the perfect summer day...the feel of hot sand beneath my feet and the gritty, stinging sensation of the individual grains of sand rubbing against sunburned skin...the salty scent of the ocean, the muddy smell of the marsh, and the delicious aroma of meat cooking on the grill...the sound of home-made ice cream being churned, laughter, and the shocking boom of fireworks exploding...outdoor showers, clothing of red, white, and blue, island traffic jams, music reverberating from the bandstand out across the rough, ocean waters...

My mind is filled with memories of this day in years past.  This is not the first year I have been away from the island on this day, but each time I'm not there, I am filled with these memories (and so many others).  These times away are the impetus for creating new experiences and traditions, but they are also the opening of a pathway that returns me to my past, allowing me to revisit the most special moments of the experiences and traditions that have so meaningfully impacted my life.  I am grateful today for the memories I have, for those afternoons I spent lying on the sandy beaches of home, for those evenings of good food and firework displays in the company of family.  While I hold those memories close to my heart today, I will enjoy a day of celebration with my family here.  With the sun finally shining (and the temp only predicted to reach a max of 75 degrees), we'll lounge outside with good books and each other.  The sand will be replaced with lush, green, freshly-cut grass this year.  Expansive cornfields and flower gardens will replace the view of the ocean.  But the smell of meat cooking on the grill will not be so different.  And we will still see a magical display of fireworks exploding against the night sky.  The fireworks will not present their magic over the ocean this year, but when we look up, it will be the same sky seen as our other family gazes upward from back home.

After all, we may be far from home here, but this is still America and the simple pleasures of this day can (and will) still be appreciated.