Happy 223rd Birthday, America!

Well, I'm finally home! It seems fitting that I arrived back in the States just a few days before the Fourth of July. In truth, being home has been both supremely comforting and bizarre at the same time. Comforting because pretty much everything is exactly as I remembered it. I love seeing my friends and family and eating my favorite foods.

But it's bizarre because every morning I wake up thinking, "Was it all a dream? Did I actually go to those places, do those things?" Studying abroad opened up my mind and expanded my view of the world, and now familiar old Rochester, New York seems provincial by comparison.

At the same time, though, there really is no place like home. Tomorrow we're heading to what is still my favorite place on Earth, the Finger Lakes region, to celebrate the holiday. While I'm still seeing America with new eyes, being away for so long has made Independence Day even more special.

So Happy Birthday, America. And many more...

In Philadelphia on July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted for independence. As one of my heroes and our second President, John Adams, put it (his prediction two days off!):


The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.

It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.

Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

From the musical 1776:





God bless America!