Oh I won’t quibble with the Moniker:  Independence Day it is.

But. 

It’s Declaration-of-Indenpence Day, not actual independence day.  This really only sunk in within the last couple of years.

On July 4th 1776, We the People declared our Independence from Britain (should there be any question of that in my contemporaries minds). 

But let’s not forget that in was several years before we gained that very independence.  That was gained in 1789.  I think.  The details are a little fuzzy, because different aspects of what we think of as these United States came into being over time. 

In any case, let’s make sure we know what we are celebrating.  We’re celebrating the declaration, the affirmation, the solid statement of who we are, as individuals, as a nation, independent and yet honorable, beholden to our fellows as much as beholden to the core of our beings.  To strike a balance between those two is hard, but well worth it.

I wax (badly) poetic, but the feelings run deep.  This was an amazing, a great experiment.  It is still in process, and I am part of it.  I am honored.