A couple of weeks ago, my Aunt Laney threw her annual 4th of July celebration. I'm not overly patriotic, the rest of my family is, so I attend year year. Luckily, though, this year she didn't us wear matching t-shirts for the group picture.

Independence Day is a day when you get together with your family, grill some meat, and shoot fireworks, or not they're legal in your state. At my aunt's house, we had paper plates with the flag on . She gets really excited.

We're taught that, July 4th, people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence, and although that's not entirely accurate, it was nice have a date to focus all that patriotism on. Most of the signatures are from August 2nd.

I can remember, when I was the sixth grade, being forced to memorize the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, , when considering antiquated the language is, was difficult for me. I can walking down the halls of my high school and a copy on the walls. I couldn't read it, the handwriting was impossible, but I remember it. I can't remember any teachers I had at that time, but I remember which wall it was on, how high on the wall it hung, where in the hall it was, and how old it looked. I remember because I was told  .

Adapted from an article by Kelly Sessions