Your present
circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you
start.
-Nido Qubein
Driving home along a near-empty toll road tonight, the horizon beside me suddenly came colorfully alive with beautiful fireworks.
Great timing, because inside I was celebrating the 100 I had just made on the final exam of my first real estate course. It was open book, and I was second to the last one to finish with only about 10 minutes on the clock…but I made 100! Whoo-hoo!
Our instructor was awesome, energetically packing four nights of material into three because of the 4th of July holiday.
One down, five to go. My next class starts Monday evening, but I plan to start reading the book tomorrow…
You can have anything you want – if you want it badly enough. You
can be anything you want to be, have anything you desire, accomplish anything
you set out to accomplish – if you will hold to that desire with singleness of
purpose.
– Robert Collier
It was after ten when I arrived home, but Tom was still outside behind the house, piecing rock together to form a driveway within the beam of a huge floodlight. Almost every night when he gets home, and every spare minute he has on his days off, he's out there eyeing, chipping, tapping rocks.
This is a bigger project than the terrace near the little pond, but he's made a lot of progress. I envy his focus and determination.
The Artist is alive and well.
What is the essence of America? Finding and maintaining that perfect,
delicate balance between freedom "to" and freedom
"from."
~Marilyn vos Savant
For the second year in a row, I'll be working on the Fourth of July. But isn't that part of being free, being able to work, to help your family?
My little town has a parade in the morning and fireworks near the lake at dusk every year on the Fourth. I faithfully attended both until a few years ago, when my kids grew up and away.
But I'm thinking tomorrow morning I might have time to watch a little of the parade before work…and perhaps I'll try to catch at least a few of the fireworks afterwards, just so it feels more like the Fourth.
Whether I do or not, I'll give thanks that I'm an American, and wish my country a happy birthday!
I hope all of you have a fantastic Fourth of July, whether you celebrate with parades and fireworks, backyard cookouts, or quiet days at home!
The beauty of being an American is being able to choose.
I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery.
~Author Unknown
Long Hollow 
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