Happy Birthday, America!

Celebratory Fireworks.

I was 14 during the Bicentennial and remember that time with fondness. People seemed so excited and happy to celebrate together. I remember watching the tall ships sailing into New York City on TV--all the networks covered the Parade of Sails--and it impressed me enough that I immediately vowed I was going to live to be 114 so I could celebrate the Tricentennial. I wanted to be the old geezer in the long-bill hat telling everyone what it was like back in 1976. It was amazing that we gathered around the TV to watch all the festivities. Have you ever watched fireworks on TV? Without the shockwaves from the explosions, without the deep "crump" that you feel and hear simultaneously, it's kind of like watching the video of the yule log burning at Christmas. Pretty, but no heat.

But it was still impactful and brought people together.

Fifty years on, I'm halfway home. And I have to say, I'm not impressed. I don't feel excited about our 250th anniversary; I feel sad. It looks like people going through the motions without emotional depth. I'll admit I've seen a couple of things that were moving: the Big Boy steam engine traversing the Midwest was powerful, and the videos of the Washington Monument at night lighted in script from the Declaration of Independence are moving, but overall, it does not have much emotional impact.

Maybe, at sixty-four, I'm jaded and unable to connect, but the World Cup has been a moving experience, so I discount that. Is it just our divided times? It's easy to say that but remember 1976 was just two years after Watergate. Jimmy Carter won the Presidency in November with 50.1% of the popular vote. I think it's hard to claim we were a more united nation in 1976 than today. What might be different is that we may have been more united about the idea of democracy and that we stood against the forces of undemocratic rule.

Speaking of important dates, my mom turns 91 in a little more than a week. That means she has been alive for 36% of our nation's history. 36%! That seems incredible to me. In 1935, the year she was born, the Social Security Act was signed into law, and FM radio, Alcoholics Anonymous, and the game Monopoly were invented. There have been 23 Presidential elections in her lifetime, and she has voted in 18 of them. And she had four boys in six years and raised them all to old age, despite letting us roam the countryside like wild animals. She founded the Home Care department for Community Hospital in Springfield, Ohio and after she retired, she went to work for the State of Ohio as a Nursing Home Inspector and worked fulltime until she was seventy-eight. A powerful woman who impacted many communities.

To learn more about my novels or read past blogs visit www.jeffersonblackburnsmith.com.

Win a free Kindle edition of Love: a novel of grief and desire: I work with Reader's Favorite on the Kindle book giveaway. Go to https://readersfavorite.com/book-giveaway/love/1 to sign up for the monthly giveaway. You can scroll through the list of giveaways (over 500 each month) or sort the list by title or author to find Love: a novel of grief and desire and put your name in for this month's drawing. Good luck!