Carpe diem... a good day...

Rain blew threw this afternoon. Needed and appreciated.

I've been catching up with some reading I've wanted to do, including reading up on the Props that will be on the ballot in November. I saw a sign that advertised voting no on a list of props to protect the state constitution. Then I saw at AZshooter that the same billboard was mentioned and someone they knew had done the homework to find out who was behind it. Saved me the time. So I've looked at those Props myself now, and I will vote for several of them to protect my constitutional rights. When I worked for the airlines we acquired a new computer system that was so easy anyone could operate it. All you had to do was RTDT: Read The Darn Thing. So before November, read the Props! Find out what they really mean. And whether it's a yes or no vote you need to make to accomplish what YOU want.

I've become amused by the campaign ads because of how often facts are twisted. Ads give me information to investigate. I will not be a sheeple, led about by ads and those who think they know better than I do. Do your own homework!

The question was asked: Is America special? This is what I wrote to a friend last May: When I originally went to England, I only planned to stay six weeks. I took a week tour of Scotland and planned to come home. I'd finished travel agency school, so I was between school and entering the work force. Once I arrived in England, I began to realize just how close France was. I'd taken French in college, before going to Thailand. It seemed ridiculous to be so close and not actually go! So, I talked to the parents and arranged to stay eight more weeks, including two weeks on the continent, several days in Holland, and then down to Paris. I was only in Paris about a week and a half, staying half the time with different friends. I frequently likened myself to a poor little rich girl, except I wasn't rich. I lived on practically nothing, ie, my own money which was almost nil, but I stayed with friends who lavished me with their kind hospitality. It was amazing.

I've also traveled all over the US and lived in Yellowstone one summer, and it's nothing like living abroad and coming home. Coming home from Thailand, I had spent 16 months meticulously not comparing the countries because I wanted to be able to focus on my missionary work and pining for home wasn't helpful. When I went to Europe, I allowed myself to see the differences. I loved my time there, but I cried when we touched back in New York. I was home. There are times I wish I had taken my uncle's opportunity to help me get a green card and work in England, but I was doing the best I knew how, at the time.

There is a spirit in America that exists nowhere else on earth. A sense of freedom and opportunity to grow and explore. With the way our government is ballooning, I have considered moving, but there's nowhere I love as much as here. So, I stay and endeavor to stand, in my own quiet way, to uplift and encourage the basic premise of this: my Home, freedom, courage, the right to choose, the right to fail or succeed, and the right to pick myself up when I fall and try again, without someone else taking all the credit for knowing what's best for me without knowing me at all. It's something I'm already all to familiar with, so I recognize the signs. God bless America and grant us mercy we may not deserve but desperately need.