Celebrate

I hadn’t planned on feeling warm and fuzzy about the World Cup coming to the US this summer. In the weeks since Kansas City and surrounding towns have opened their doors to host Argentina, England, Netherlands, and Algeria, I have changed my mind. From my distant vantage point it appears Kansas City has become the Welcome Wagon Lady and our guests are enjoying their stay. They like our beer, our air conditioned Costco and find us “really nice people.” That’s wonderful for them and for us.

While at the KC airport near the beginning of the World Cup, I watched arriving and departing football/soccer fans take photos in front of the welcome sign. The giant red heart is at the FIFA Fan Fest park downtown where fans gather to watch the matches on a giant screen.

This is just crazy! The orange crush photo is the 36,000 Dutch fans walking to the FIFA Fan Festival (where the big heart is located) down the streets of Kansas City. This broke all kinds of goofy and obscure records. The other mass of humanity is a facsimile of the Power and Light District, a local gathering place for all sporting events in KC, where fans cheer for TEAM USA. If I could be magically transported there for the mayhem after a team goal, I’d be happy. And happier still to be returned home ten minutes later.

Then there’s the birthday celebration for our country. It rained most of the day on the Fourth, but we found enough dry time to grill ribs under the shelter of an umbrella. We flew our big flag and I decorated our potted plants with smaller versions. To honor this day I wore my new T-shirt with my patriot’s name, Nicholas Gulick, a private in the New Jersey militia. The Gulick family emigrated from the Netherlands to America in 1653. Were Nicholas here today, I hope he and our other early patriots would be gratified to see the experiment of our republic lives on, a work in progress. I am grateful to him and the thousands of others for their part in the founding of our nation.

Lastly, if you follow my Facebook page you’ve seen my posts about the Western Writers of America conference in St. Louis. Thoroughly enjoyable with knowledgeable speakers and many new friends, it is another reason to celebrate. The picture above was inspired by my off-handed comment, “I’ve never seen so many cowboy hats in one room in my life.” This is a small sampling as the number of hats grew with the picture taking.

Before I leave, I’m close to finishing Theo of Golden, a very thoughtful and wise book that many of you might enjoy, and if you’re looking for a movie I’ve added Young Washington to my list at the suggestion of friends. I hope as the summer flows along you find things to celebrate and savor. It’s good for the soul.

Until next time . . .