Happy 4th of July!

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence..." - John Adams

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  Last night Brian and I got into a patriotic spirit by inviting his family over for dinner and a movie.  We ate fried chicken, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and a delicious cherry cobbler... all made by my terrifically talented chef of a man.  What's more American than fried chicken?  So good!

The movie choice was the '72 film adaptation of the musical 1776 starring William Daniels as John Adams (you might know Daniels as Mr. Feeny on Boy Meets World).  If you haven't seen the movie, it's pretty fantastic.  It's funny in all the right ways and then really serious when it needs to be.  A bit of musical camp and a lot of political drama.  The movie centers around John Adams and his fight for American independence.  Being a rather opinionated man, he wasn't much liked in congress, except for his pals Benjamin Franklin (Howard Da Silva) and Thomas Jefferson (Ken Howard) who Adams eventually coerced into penning the Declaration of Independence.  

The film shows how hard it was to convince all of the delegates that independence was necessary and achievable.  In fact, it's amazing to see how our nation's birth might never have come to pass if Adams wasn't so passionately invested in the revolution.  It's a fairly long movie (almost three hours), but so worth it at the end when they all sign the declaration on July 4th, 1776.  What a momentous occasion!

So today, as we all go out and have our backyard barbecues and shoot our fireworks, let's take a moment to recognize the men who laid the foundation for this great nation of ours.  I hope that we can continue to move forward as a society to ensure that every American citizen can have "liberty and justice for all."