My Country Tis A Thee

Does anyone know what they are actually saying there? Tis athee? Tis to tee? I just realized I have no idea. Perhaps I will look it up online now. Okay - apparently it's "tis to thee," never knew. Now the next task is to find out what the heck that means, but I'll save that for another day.

The original purpose of this post - before I became confused with tis a thee, was to reflect on how classically American Labor Day weekend up at the lake is. This past weekend I went up to a cabin and found myself immersed in the truest and deepest American culture - in my opinion of course, and you know what, I LOVED it. Something about the God Bless America signs, suburbans with motor boats in tow and oldies playing on the outdoor speakers of a gas station made struck a perfect chord with my soul. I wanted to wrap the whole country up in my arms and squeeze tight - and I'm not being sarcastic either!

My patriotic pride swelled again as I walked into a small-town coffee shop made of logs and selling arts and crafts. I think what it is, is although I love diversity sometimes it's just so comforting about being in a place where everyone comes from the same background. For there's no need to explain yourself, and you can breath deeply and just be quiet. A place where they sell fresh apple pie, where people love cheeseburgers and Bud Lite, and completely drop everything to knock out the dance floor with their American thighs when ACDC comes on, or Def Leppard blares "Pour Some Sugar On Me," over the d.j.'s speakers. A place where people still line the streets for the fourth of July parade, and little children wave flags at the firetrucks and rotary club members passing by - and when the day gets too hot, you can jump into deep blue, bass-filled lakes surrounded by pine-tree forests.

Perhaps I'm mistaking nostalgia for patriotism, but to this day I'm telling you that those things are some of the reasons why I will always love America, no matter what people say. I'm not being political at all. I'm just saying I appreciate our culture - particularly small town culture and sometimes wish I could just wrap it up and put it in my pocket so I can escape into country fantasyland when BBC or the NYTimes keep telling me how messy this world is becoming.