Happy Birthday America

We take America for granted. Too many people slept through American History. Part of the problem when I was in school is that most of the textbooks simply contained the facts, but it was difficult putting those facts in context.
When Ben Franklin said -
We must all hang together
or assuredly we will all hang separately
It sounds like a snappy quip, but when he said that, the colonists were past the point of no return. Too much had been said and done. If the colonists didn't succeed, he knew they would all be hanged as traitors.
I read David McCullough's 1776 which relied heavily on the letters of the main players -- John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and George Washington.
McCullough's book brought the history alive to me and it finally hit home just how close we came to losing the war for independence.
Until that time, it never dawned on me the sacrifices our forefathers made.
Today has been a laid back day. Jilda had to work this afternoon so I went down and had dinner with my sister and her family.  I ate too much BBQ and had too much banana pudding for desert.  As I sit here tonight, I can hear fireworks off in the distance, and I feel humbled and grateful on this Independence Day. I'm thankful our forefathers had the willingness, the tenacity, and brains to make it through.
I wonder what they would think if they had a chance to sit where I sit on this Independence Day.