Me, my family and how I came to love this country🇺🇸

 

Happy July!

Happy Birthday America!🇺🇸

250 years.

And here we are.

What do you think about that?

Me: I am and I will always be grateful to God for living in a country

that allows me the freedoms I enjoy. 

My moms family was from Lebanon ( both sides)

They were christians.

I was raised with such love and respect for this country

because of them. Because they loved it and all the

wonderful benefits it brought their family for the future.

My father was in the military, Staff Sargent in the army.

He ran our home like he ran his guys.

Mom was Democrat, dad a Republican.

I have the unique ability to see when the push to

distance both parties from one another started and has since

blew up into what people think is how *we* all feel.

It started when a group of people were influenced to 

turn on their fellow man because they grew intolerant.

They then pointed fingers at the other side and instantly called

them intolerant when they had not changed at all.

They thought they were on higher moral ground.

They followed the crowd.

Instead of accepting everyones differences as true

Americans have done, they scapegoated, gaslit and outright lied

to make everything seem like a 5 alarm fire.

I pray that this method of pushing narratives with the help of 

a captured media stops.

It stops when we all start talking to one another

with class and grace.

America is a country so special, so endearing millions 

risk deportation or worse to come here by any means.

My moms family's story was a bit like this:

All so that this little baby girl could be here today

celebrating her country's 250 birthday.

That is also how God & patriotism and family were entwined

throughout my life.

It was never us Vs them.

It was just us.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I never said we were saints either....

But we weren't such entitled brats who demanded to be coddled.

We did not care what others did...

You do you.

Most late boomers and whatever you call the next generation are chill.

We knew a world without 2 world wars.

We heard the stories from our families and neighbours who

were our first heroes.

The strife we have now is directly attributed to a few things:

being nosey about what everyone else is doing

lack of self awareness

being easily led

believing everything that you see or hear which changes with

channel or website or day.

None of it by accident.

I believe that there are two kind of folks:

those who want to follow trends and those who test & resist them.

...and there is a spectrum.

Where you fall is where your people are.

Ya know, I was called a Beth Dutton the other day.

The person who said it was a darling older woman who had

been drinking wine, standing at the bridge over our waterfall with her husband.

They had lit candles and  had flowers in vases and they were there to

record the sounds of the waterfall because it helps them sleep at night.

My oh my I was smitten !

( we have met the most interesting people at the bridge and one

day I may write a book about all of them)

BUT I had to look Beth Dutton up.

Well, well, well...isnt she just a ball of everything all at once?

I do have to say, yes, I am fierce and loyal and yes, I have had some stuff

happen in my life that has made me look at life in a different way.

I am also a watered down Beth when it comes to reactions and voicing

my opinions.

I may get around to watching the show this summer.

But overall, having a bit of her in me is a good thing these days.

I do not break, I bend.

I will not allow bullies.

I will quietly do what I want unnoticed.... because I can.

I can because some people came here and did the hard work...

for that I am so so grateful.

I will always support my country.

I pray every day that we smarten up.

I pray people stop being so divisive  and start realising that there

are issues bigger than what we focus on.

Like big business ruining our water, air, soil and way of life.

The people who move here without any investment who demand we change for them.

Aliens?

maybe.

But I never thought I would be living in a time where aliens were

said to exist and no-one cares because they are too busy hating one guy.

Fix that and we are well on our way to healing.

+++++++++++

Summer here at Stone Hollow means iced tea, long walks in the cool forest

dips in the river and simple pleasures.

Nothing says USA as a dessert than the simple chocolate chip cookie.

I plan on having a (GF) plate on the counter all summer.

Listen, have a great day friends.

Let your spirit be filled with all of the goodness.

xoxo

Raven

🐦‍⬛