I Pledge Allegiance....

Today is 4th of July, here it is just July fourth.  A semantic difference you might say, but for us on this day it is a difference that is felt deeply.  This is the first fourth in my life that I have not spent on American soil and it is much harder than I thought it would be.  We have discovered that nothing makes a bigger patriot than being an expatriate.

It is difficult to put into words how it feels to be living in a country that is not your own.  Canada is very similar to the US in many ways and I am sure that these feelings would be even more pronounced in many of the other spots around the globe where Chris could be working.  It saddens me that when my children go to school they do not say the Pledge of Allegiance and the flag that flies is not the Stars and Stripes.  I come from a military family, we are born patriotic and I am proud to be an American.  I was blessed to be raised in the greatest country on earth and every day I miss it.  While hospitable and great in it's own right, Canada is not our home and we are but guests.  This experience is teaching us not only to embrace and respect other cultures but to value our own as well.  We take our country and all it has to offer for granted, we forget the fundamental reasons it exists in the first place.  I encourage everyone to take a moment and consider how lucky we are to be American.

That said,  Pledge Allegiance and be proud, be grateful.