4th of July 2025

 

         

About 15 years ago when I was going through Customs into Canada one day for my job as a flight attendant with United Airlines, I was flipping through the Visa pages in my passport just out of curiosity to see how many times I had crossed the border from the time I had renewed my passport the year before.

The format of the passport itself had changed since my last one had been issued ten years before that new one.  For some reason, though, I had never paid any attention to the writing on the pages.  Turns out that “writing” is quotes having to do with the United States on each opened double-page.  I probably was only in a hurry to get through the line and into the country during each previous visit.  Never registered with me.

However, as I read each of those quotes that day, I was really impressed with the content of each one which reflected how most of our country USED to feel about our freedom in America and our responsibility to the world as the great nation we are. 

I share them here as we anticipate celebrating Independence Day once again on the Fourth of July 2025.  I am also including a quote about The Book of Mormon’s warning to us relative to our living in this free land.

As you read all of these impressive quotes about our country's freedom, I invite you--and myself--to do the following:

**   Pledge once again your loyalty to the United States

**  Always give gratitude for the blessings which we receive from God here in America on a daily basis 

**  Dedicate yourself to do whatever you can to help our country remain free

We each are ONLY one.  But we ARE One.  What we do does count!

Wishing you a Happy 4^th of July, however you plan to celebrate this year!

Love, 

From your fellow American and friend….

 

 

 ‘’Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity…” Book of Mormon 2 NE.1:7

…AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH.      Abraham Lincoln

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.   John F. Kennedy

The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class—it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.         Anna Julia Cooper

Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.    George Washington

We hold these truths to be self-evident:  that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.    Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave       Francis Scott Key

Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.  Dwight D. Eisenhower

May God continue the unity of our country as the railroad unites the two great oceans of the world.              Inscribed on the Golden Spike, Promontory Point, 1869

NAMES WITH A STORY...

Georgia   Carol   

                           

    a.k.a.            Georgia Peach

                                Sweet Georgia Brown    

                                      Georgia on My Mind   

                                            Georgy Girl

We had occasion recently to ask some young people if their name had a story behind it—perhaps a special reason their parents named them that particular name. One boy was able to say he knew his name was from the Bible. That was all.  The others didn’t seem to have a clue.

That made me doubly grateful there are not one, but two, stories about my name.

My mother’s brother George was about four and a half years older than she was, but they were childhood friends while growing up on their ranch in southeastern Idaho. He showed her how to ride a horse, played on the teetertotter with her, and taught her to dance when she was finally old enough to go to the Church dances.

They were close as children and for several years after they grew up. 

Even though he died as a young father with small children, and she had already moved to Utah, George was still her favorite brother.

 He was playing on the local baseball team in his town when he suffered a ruptured appendix. George died from the ensuing infection since there were no antibiotics at that time in the late 1920’s.

I was named Georgia because of my mother's fond memories of George.

Carol was a pretty special choice for my middle name, as well, because of an event during my mother's hospital stay after my birth.  

I was born on Sunday, December 2, 1945, at 1:16 a.m.  

Because I was born in December, and time in the hospital for mothers and babies was quite lengthy during that time, carolers came one night and sang for the patients at Carbon County Memorial Hospital in Rawlins, Wyoming, where I entered the world. My mother said she felt such a wonderful holiday spirit during that occasion while they sang familiar carols.  It was almost like a Christmas lullaby, she said.

So, my mother wanted my middle name to be Carol in view of the fact Christmas carolers had come to the hospital during her lying-in.

I have to admit, though, there was a bit of time when I was in elementary school that I wished my name was one of the popular girl’s names at that time like Mary, Jane, or Susan instead of Georgia.

However, one day I took a look around our classroom and realized that I was the ONLY Georgia in the class. In fact, I was the ONLY Georgia in the whole school. And I was probably the ONLY Georgia in the entire town I lived in. I didn’t meet another person named Georgia until I was in college, although I was familiar with the names Georgia O'Keefe, artist, and Georgia Gibbs, jazz singer while I was growing up.

Then I got smart! 

I began to appreciate the uniqueness of my name, though some articles about the frequency of my name say that Georgia was popular in the early 40’s, before it declined in use. Didn’t seem so to me. I was the one—and ONLY—Georgia. 

Plus, it was fun to have some popular songs featuring my name, as well. 

When I was a little girl, a lot of people would call me "Sweet Georgia Brown", later the theme song for the Harlem Globetrotters.  In 1960 Ray Charles' iconic ballad "Georgia on My Mind" was a whole different sort of style to identify my name.  Later in the 60's, when I was in college, a British band The Seekers had a pop hit "Georgy Girl".  It was a bouncy tune which epitomized that whole rock scene.  I liked all of them.  I also felt special when my older sisters began calling me "Georgia Peach" from the time I was just a tot.

I am pleased both my names have a story behind their choice. I truly feel my name matches who I grew up to be:  a "Georgia Carol". 

FATHER'S DAY

 

NOTE:  Today is Father's Day 2025.  

When I opened my computer a few minutes ago to write a letter, I saw this little blurb detailing some background of this commemorative day.  Though I knew how Mother's Day began, I don't think I ever heard anything about how the celebration of Father's Day came about.

Click on the links to find out some additional information about the details associated with this special day. I think you will find them interesting.

And in spite of the fact MY father-in-law was negative and vocal about Father's Day being just another way for  merchants to take something out of thin air and commercialize it (to the point it kind of wrecked our kids' enthusiasm to fete him), I think celebrating our dads is a great way to let them know they are important in our lives!  I loved making this day special for my own father and for my husband who was the father of our children.

FATHER’S DAY

 

Each June, stores roll out their Father’s Day best — sales on ties, watches, and barbecue grills. But when Father’s Day was first created, a much smaller token was given out to dads: roses. Flowers aren’t as heavily advertised for Father’s Day now as they are for mothers in May, yet the link between dads and the delicate blooms comes from the earliest American celebrations of the holiday. The first known Father’s Day is tied to the West Virginia mining community of Fairmont. On July 5, 1908, the town held a church service honoring the lives of fathers in their community, many of whom had perished the December before in what is widely considered the worst mining disaster in U.S. history. However, the church event was held just one time, and another city propelled the holiday into national view.  In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd launched her campaign to honor fathers from her home in Spokane, Washington. As the daughter of a Civil War veteran and widower who had raised six children, Dodd believed fathers deserved recognition for their roles. Within a year, she had drummed up community support, and on June 19, 1910, Washington became the first state to celebrate Father’s Day. Dodd’s first festivities included an exchange of roses; children gave red roses to their fathers and pinned color-coded buds to their shirts — red for living fathers and white roses in honor of the deceased. The activist even rode through the city, handing out flowers and gifts to fathers who couldn’t leave home. Over time, the tradition of giving roses to dads faded away, but the holiday stuck around. After years of rallying, Father’s Day became a federally recognized holiday in 1972.

MAY DAY 2025

NOTE:  I "minister" or administer "watch care" for seven women in our congregation who currently choose not to attend meetings.  However, they have indicated they would accept some contact with the members--just "not up close and personal".  So, I try to think of sister-to-sister ways to interact with them.  

In previous years, I have left fresh flowers or a small plant on their doorstep to celebrate May Day.  However, this year I wrote the following message, and I left it in a festive bag on their doorstep with a packet of blank notes embellished with beautiful flowers on the front of each card.  It was an invitation for them to "pass it forward" in a way.  

I hope they found opportunity to do that and scatter LOVE in a variety of directions.

_________________________________________________________________

       

Sing a song of May time.

Sing a song of Spring.

Flowers are in their beauty.

Birds are on the wing.

May time, play time.

God has given us May time.

Thank Him for His gifts of love.

Sing a song of Spring!

May 2025

Early European settlers of the Americas brought their May Day traditions with them.  You may remember making those same kinds of traditional small baskets in school, filling them with flowers or treats and leaving them at someone’s doorstep to find after you rang the bell and ran away.  I recall it was a fun activity and even more fun later to dart away before someone opened their door to find the surprise I had left for them.

Though that tradition has faded in popularity, I truly enjoyed the May Day celebration when we lived in Sweden several years ago.  It included dancing around the Maypole and crowning the Queen of May.  I liked it so much, in fact, that when I found a handmade music box with colorful wooden figures weaving ribbons around a pole as the music box played and the figures danced in circles, I immediately purchased it and brought it back to our home in America.

When my younger daughter got married, I gifted that little music box to her, as it was a favorite decoration on the bookshelf in our family room.  She still displays it in her home where her children now enjoy winding the key and seeing the dancers weave their ribbons around the Maypole.

This May Day, though, I’m surprising you with flowers of a different sort, some that you can share long after the first of May.  These “flowers” are an invitation for you to send a loving note to individuals who need a little “Spring” because of illness, sadness, or perhaps just a cheery “Hello!” 

 

In John 13: 34, Christ said:

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Let us take as our motto during the month of May with its surprise baskets of flowers and treats, “LOVE AT ALL TIMES!”

What a wonderful way to thank God for His gifts of love to us—usually given through others—in May time and always!

LOVE,  From your friend in the neighborhood—

Swedish music box   1981