anniversary | Deanna Greens and Garden Art

Wow! The 250th Birthday of the United States of America! Communities have had many events planned for months with this 3-day holiday weekend. Dean and I’s wedding anniversary is on the 2nd of July, so we usually plan a few days of celebrating with America’s birthday. This year we had our anniversary dinner out at a quaint St. Louis City neighborhood Irish eatery. On Friday, July 3 late afternoon we made the hour-drive to the small German river town Hermann, Missouri. It is the town Dean and I were married 16 years ago. That evening their 4th of July parade was taking place along the downtown blocks near the riverfront. Lots of cool vintage cars and excited kids waiting for candy to be thrown to them. Thirsty after the July humid heat, we stopped in the local brewery. I had their new seltzer, a lemon-lavender. Very refreshing. Dean had a red ale while relaxing in the air-conditioned brewery. We shared a delicious freshly made thin crust pizza. Afterwards we strolled to the riverfront park where many townies were getting situated for the fireworks display. The sunset brought its own special glow on the Missouri River before the town’s music and fireworks.

I let my hair go, not attempting to straighten the natural curls and frizz. With the humidity above 90% and heat index over 100 degrees, freedom from hairdryers and makeup was commanded, and eventually sweaty undergarments removed matching this freedom celebration. Memories going back into my childhood surfaced these past few days. A bit of nostalgia. I was 16 years old when our nation turned 200. I remember fun times in the pool that summer, making new friends through Teens Encounter Christ (TEC), playing music in the park, walking to softball practice, having evening and Saturday ballgames in old town St. Peters, bike rides in the neighborhoods down the road from our tree farm, and our 3-week summer vacation traveling to visit our family in Washington state and our friends in Minnesota. I even imagined what I might be doing at this 250th birthday year. Thought to be married, busy as a wife, mother, and grandmother. Here now I am very busy as a wife, mother, grandmother, and even a great-grandmother as well as serving the community as a culinary professional and writer of words. A partial retirement has been a good fit for me. Back then, looking forward to the 4th of July in 2026 I expected a celebration of a parade, festive music, and patriotic fireworks.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” ~ Psalm 33:12

Here I am this holiday, my whole weekend has been full. We spent our Friday in Hermann. This Saturday in our hometown, St. Charles where we attended the Main Street parade in the morning meeting up with one son and his family, then the fireworks display at dusk. We set up our lawn chairs in our church’s parking lot situated on a hill just 4 blocks from the Missouri River. We could look downhill towards the river where the barge was set up with the explosives. Fancier fireworks in this town’s display. A bigger town with a bigger budget for such a luxury. The night sky was explosive colors and pops throughout well into the midnight hour. The sights and sounds matched my heart filled with gratitude for the freedoms I continue to have. I am thankful to God for the nation I live in; the freedom to worship my Jesus, the employment opportunities my Dean and I are occupied with, a retirement income, health benefits, nutritious food to eat, a cozy home, peace with our diverse loved ones and neighbors, and hope for our future. On the 4th of July ABC televised Brandi Carlile singing America The Beautiful in NYC. Such a gorgeous rendition, a prayer as the singer described. At church this Sunday, we sang this same anthem. Make these words our own. Here are the lyrics:

America the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Oh beautiful for halcyon skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress,
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till paths be wrought through wilds of thought
By pilgrims foot and knee!
Oh beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife,
When once and twice for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till selfish gain no longer strain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Happily-Ever-After Dreams, Maybe For 100 Years

I still dream, daydream that is. Where queens rule, and men, well, they take good care to love us queens and princesses just as we are. I still have visions of a backyard writing atelier, some would call it a studio or “She Shed”. Afternoon teas and evening dinners savored on the patio well into nightfall. Alongside would be beautiful flower gardens, a prolific kitchen garden, a beautiful rooster and chickens plucking the unwanted bugs, with time enough to put up the herbs, vegetables, and fruits at harvest as provisions through the winter. We aren’t talking acres and acres, just in my own smalltown backyard, allowing every space to be productive. For someone who had a 1300-square foot screenhouse/greenhouse, you would think a backyard plot would be manageable. Other unforeseeable events and the physical limitations of an autoimmune disorder have almost swallowed my dreams. Those dreams are resurfacing as I witness the inflammation go down in my body when I eat 5 or 6 vegetables a day. Happily-ever-after dreams can come true.

“Though the darkness close, even the night will blossom as the rose.” ~ John Masefield, “Growing Old” poem

In April of this year Roo was reunited with Kanga. Queen Camilla brought to the United States a Roo made especially for Winnie the Pooh’s 100-year anniversary to be reunited with Kanga. As the Smithsonian Museum story goes “During the British royal family’s state visit to the United States this week, Queen Camilla made a detour from the political events and state dinners to visit the New York Public Library, where she attended a literary celebration and quietly accomplished something that has been waiting to happen for nearly 90 years: she reunited Winnie-the-Pooh with a dear friend. The original stuffed animals that inspired A.A. Milne’s beloved books, including Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, and Kanga, have lived in a display case at the library since 1987, after spending decades on a tour of the United States beginning in the 1940s, having originally been given to Milne’s son Christopher Robin as gifts between 1921 and the late 1920s. But one member of the group had been missing since the 1930s: little Roo, Kanga’s baby, lost in an apple orchard and never recovered. Camilla’s gift was a lovingly recreated replica of Roo, crafted by Merrythought, England’s oldest surviving teddy bear manufacturer, using an original Kanga and Roo found in the company’s own archives as a reference.” Fictional characters reunite in happily-ever-after fashion. This isn’t just limited to storybook fables.

Another 100-year old anniversary is the famous Route 66. So many celebrations are taking place along the highway for its centennial year. My husband and I recently viewed the Route 66 display at the Missouri History Museum located in Forest Park. Outside were parked vintage classic cars we loved viewing. In my book Strewn Words in The Stew Volume 1, I wrote a short story called “Two Hungry Hearts And Soup For All”, where the setting of the story is along Route 66 while two college undergrads embark on an adventurous summer social experiment. Parts of the story are based on my true experiences. Much like the characters in the old fable “Stone Soup”, these two main characters are looking for the good in people. Are there still people with heart? You will have to read my story to know what the main characters find out. I see these other happily-ever-after dreams happen around me. Watch out world. More are coming.