My apologies to those who looked forward to my monthly blog posts who have missed them the last several months.  

When I first started it several years ago I said I would only be doing them if I felt I had something relevant or inspiring to share, and for the last 4+ months I did not have anything that met that criteria that had not already been said either by myself or others.

While I still feel that way for the most part, I have been busy working on another small yet meaningful way to possibly help the cause of saving and strengthening our democracy through nonpartisan innovations…I’ve created an online store!  You can CLICK HERE to view it. 

The intro on the page helps explain the thought process behind it, and I hope you will give it a look and feel free to let me know your thoughts and suggestions.  I have several other ideas I will be working on in the coming weeks and months, so be sure to check back frequently for updates to it.  

Lastly, 50 years ago my mom was nearing the end of her pregnancy with me, with a due date of July 4th, 1976, worried that if she went to term she’d get the backup nurses and interns because everyone would be out celebrating our nation’s bicentennial.  

While it would have been supremely cool to have been born on the 4th of July, as a classic middle child even in utero I put other’s needs before my own and arrived almost a week early on June 29th.  LOL!

It definitely feels surreal to be celebrating both my own 50th and our nations’ 250th birthday this week, and I have to admit I find myself in less of a celebratory mindset and more of a reflective one on the former and a more somber one on the latter.  

We still have so much work to do my friends to leave this country better than we found it.  

For both people and nations, the gift of a long life is truly that, and it is one not always given to everyone and every nation, and sometimes given for far too long to those who don’t deserve it.  

I am supremely grateful to still be here, and feel the same for our country and its enduring promise of a better tomorrow.

After 50 years on this planet for me, and 250 years on this planet for our country, we both share similar traits….there are things we have excelled at, mistakes that we have made, opportunities that were missed, pains we have endured, triumphs we have reveled in, and memories we have made.

Despite the stormy clouds of the present, I have every reason to believe that our beloved nation will continue on to its 300th, 350th, 400th, 450th, and 500th birthdays.  My great grandmother passed just a few months shy of her 100th birthday many years ago, and I hope I have enough of her genes to make it to see our 300th birthday.  

One thing I do know, however much time I have left, whether it is 5 hours, 5 years, or 5 decades, I will be doing everything I possibly can to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from this Earth.