Our Country, Our Flag, Our Fireworks!

 

By G. E. Shuman

 

I am, without a doubt, married to the most patriotic person I have ever met. Lorna has always been that way, and I have to say I am immensely proud of her for her stand for our country. I do mean stand, as she has great pride in our nation and would never hear our national anthem sung or played without standing; she would never let the American Flag pass by in a parade without standing also.

In this age of difficult changes in our country, including coming to grips with racial discrimination and violence from all sides of that issue to pressure to tolerate just about anything that can be said or otherwise expressed as freedom of speech, my wife, and hopefully I, am standing rock solid on our Christian and traditional national values.

Lorna loves all things American. Remember the old Chevy ad that repeated the words: “Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet?” My wife could have written that ad from her heart. One recent summer, (although this could have happened in any season, at our house,) our son in law Adam saw Lorna enter a room wearing one of her many flag-emblazoned tee shirts and sets of earrings, and he simply said: “Here comes old glory.”  What a hoot that was! Also, what a blessing, as Lorna wore that joking remark as a badge of honor for a long time.

The red, white, and blue, patriotic songs, and fireworks seem to  top the ‘pride’ list for Lorna. She especially loves those fireworks. I do not know how many lines of cars we have waited in to find a good space to park to watch fireworks over the years, or how many stifling, buggy, windy, rainy, or chilly late evenings in how many past Julys we have spent watching what I have never genuinely appreciated as much as does my wife. (I am not exactly bored with all the flash-flash-boom-boom shows but will admit that a lot of those fireworks seem pretty much like the ones we saw last year, to me.)

You know, maybe that is the very point of fireworks, and of Lorna’s everlasting love of them. Maybe the unchanging, memory-jogging fireworks and the emotions of love and respect for the spirit of our country are exactly what Lorna needs to be reminded of around Independence Day each year. This thought makes me feel that many more of us should start paying closer attention to fireworks.

A while back Lorna told me that she had read about a company that would put a portion of a person’s cremated ashes in a firework so that they could be launched toward the sky. That may sound a bit crazy to you, but, if you’re around many years from now at Lorna’s passing, please make it happen.  It’s perfect for her, the most God-fearing, patriotic, traditional, family-centered person I have ever known. I’m very proud of her!