I like to read up on history.  Some of you may have noticed this from time to time.  Now… some days in history… are totally boring and inept.  I’ll find something like…

“On this day in history… the rear spindle for the electrorecaputurlar wheel was invented.”  Super.

Then… some days…. like July the Second… are Whack-A-Doodle-Do Amazing.  Check it.  I will just name some years… and let you judge.

In 1937, that crazy-go-nuts aviator Amelia Earhart and side-kick Fred, disappeared over the Pacific Ocean.  Gone.  Poof.  They were attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator.  I think they didn’t disappear at all.  Amelia landed it.  She was meeting up with someone… on an island.  Betcha.

In 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution which said these new colonies here… ought to be… “Free and Independent States.”  Now we have 50.  We get messy at times… but we are still freer and more independent than most.

In 1881, President James A. Garfield was fatally shot.  A bloke named Charles Guiteau did it.  At the Washington railroad station. Chuck was a stalker.

And….1947.. one of my favorites.  Roswell Incident.  Yep.  There was an object flying around in the sky.  It crashed.  Green men came out.   That goofy Army Air Force later said it was a weather balloon.  Eyewitnesses, lots of them, tell it differently.

In 1961.. on of our great American authors,  Ernest Hemingway, shot himself.  Actually, killed himself.  He was only 61.  He was sad.

Way back in 1962, the first Walmart store (called Wal-Mart Discount City) was opened.  Discount City.  In Rogers, Arkansas.  Walton’s Mountain of Savings.

In 1964,    President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law a sweeping civil rights bill.  Big Day.

And, one more.  In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was not inherently cruel or unusual.  Now you see them.  Now you don’t.

You see what I mean about July 2nd?  Things have happened on this date… and big ones.  I mean… Walmart … for crying out loud.  WALMART!

A big day in history, in deed.

I started my day on the wrong foot.  Shame on me.  Yep.  Woke up on the wrong side of the bed.  Had my britches all in a bunch.  Crabby Appleton, I was.

But then, I was reminded to take notice of the things around me.  Ah.

The things around me.  I could feel them in my heart.  I had to be reminded.

As my day progressed, it became easier, and easier to see the goodness which abounds in my life.

Blessings.  Good fortune.  Lucky numbers.  Call it what you will.  But the more I took notice, the more I saw.

Choirs, and bands.  Hamburgers, and Peanut Butter Ice Cream.  People.  Good people.  Big Rocks on a Grassy Hill.  Ribbons.  Tents.  Cold Water.   Cute Furry Animals.  Friends.  Fireworks.  Dragonflies.

The things around me.  I could see them with my eyes.

So much to be thankful for.

I celebrated much of the day with good friends and loved ones.  Collectively, we commemorated the opening of the Amphitheater at the Preble County Historical Society.

What a great gathering it was.  From start to finish.
As the universe would have it… the word “Amphitheater” comes from the Greek words… “amphi”  — meaning “surrounding, around, on both sides”  AND  “theatron” — which means “place for viewing.”

Ah.  Again.  So I am reminded.

Seeing the things around me.  It makes my heart pound… like fireworks.

Remarkable.  Splendid.  And… Amazing.

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” – Albert Einstein