hotdogs, baseball and fireworks

this 4th of July was interesting for me. It's not that i haven't celebrated at least four 4th of July's on the US/Mexico border. and it's not that every time it doesn't make me stop and think about the irony when you question if everyone around you is even a US citizen and you can see the Mexico flag right across the border in the backdrop as fireworks shoot into the air. 

this 4th of july, i just felt much more grateful, maybe than ever before that i was born in this country and regardless of where i travel to and live outside of the US, I will always be able to call this place home. i will always be able to walk across that line onto this US soil, because it is my "right." no test to take. no questions asked beyond where i was born.

surrounded by people laughing and talking as the fireworks went off, and being distracted by a million different things, not really aware of what sitting here watching this means, i couldn't help but think about people that are inevitably standing against that border fence watching those same fireworks and would give their lives to call this country home. a feeling i will never understand, as my biggest concern is laying in the bed of my truck trying to take a good picture as the show above me lights up the night sky.

so i thank God this Friday that this is my home and that can truly never be taken from me. i thank God that with this citizenship not only comes a passport to freedom, but every opportunity in the world. i thank God that along with it all comes a government and rights that i can trust in because it is not completely covered in drugs and corruption. 

today i thank God for this little American package i've received. this gift i was given the moment i was born. not because i did anything to deserve it. but because my australian dad and my american mom happened to give birth to me in a town in GA, and with that, i was handed the world. this week at the border on the way back to the US, i was asked one question, 'where was i born?' and that answer opened the gates of opportunity, as i cruised on through, rolled down my windows, and turned my radio back up, so unaware of what a privilege i had just been given. 

so on this 4th of July, i hope at least in the smallest respect, i can attempt to not take it all completely for granted. because so many people would give their lives to have all that i have ever known.