What is Better than a Midwestern Fourth of July?
The joyful simplicity of Americana at its finest.
What is better than the Midwest during the Fourth of July?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
It is that time of year again when we make plans for Independence Day; as it happens, this usually coincides with our annual trip to the Midwest to visit my husband’s family. We have always traveled there during the summer because as a schoolteacher, this was the best time for me to take an extended trip.
Now, newly retired, I can go whenever I want to! But I still want to go on the Fourth of July.
My husband says, “Oh, but it is so pretty up there in the Fall! The leaves are so pretty, and the weather is perfect! We can go during the State Fair!”
Well, now we can do that too! This is the privilege of retirement.
I love the Midwest on the Fourth. Nowhere, it seems to me, is the sense of Americana more prevalent. There are American flags flying everywhere you look: the cemeteries are decorated, people fly their flags at their homes, line their walkways with them, and every Main Street in every small town lines the main drag with flags on every pole. Storefronts are draped in bunting and even the flowerbeds are planted in red, white, and blue flowers.
