'three cheers for the Red, White and Blue...'  no, it's not flag day but it may as well be.  It's basically Independence Day Eve.  I don't know about your experience, but at least at my work, more than half of the people are on vacation, and the few remaining souls keep hoping they'll get the word they can leave early (apparently someone they know got it early this morning).  Now the work day's almost over, so any hope fot that is waning.  I've spotted a few patriotic souls decked out in red-white-n-blue (myself included).  In fact, I'm wearing an obnoxious pin/necklace.  It's star-shaped with a good portion of the flag filling it.  The magic of it is that if I turn it, it'll flash red and blue.  I'm almost tempted to turn it on at night, and freak out other drivers with it.  Maybe people would drive safer then...  I'm thinking back to 3 years ago, when I worked at Mt. Rushmore.  Boy was that the summer.  It was tons of fun!  But more 'America' than the rest of my life combined.  At least in the 'let's sell anything by trying to make the customers feel patriotic' sense.  We did that by red-white-n-blue jello and pumping the shops with patriotic songs.  Luckily, I can't recall the most annoying of them at this moment.  'I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free..'  I've been trying to get a sense of what we really are or should be celebrating, but as it's hard enough staying focused on anything, I haven't done too well.  My grandpa fought in a war, but noone I know has gotten killed or too seriously injured 'defending our country' so it's just not that real to me.    I do appreciate the freedom we have.  I'd probably be dead or at least miserable if I lived in a place that had so many restrictions that other countries have.  It's so hard to not express myself, you could say.  Either that, or I like to push boundaries.  There has to be a very good reason why I can't do/say something.  There are definitely times when I'll listen to what an authority says, or be perfectly fine with rules, but other times, watch out!

Lately, it's been a great combination of familiarity and newness.  I've met some great people, like at the jazz service last night, and gotten to know others better- but at the same time, there has been this sense of, even though it's new situations and experiences than ever before, it seems familiar.  Maybe a person reminds me of someone I knew elsewhere or a combination of people.  Maybe Baltimore reminds me of other port cities or of other times when I've seen street performances...  it's an interesting combination.  There's definitely been, "what's going on?  this is totally new and somewhat difficult to process" moments, but I still can't get over how it all seems connected.  and this is coming from someone who normally tries to see those connections.

I've also learned a little bit about what happens to our brains as we age.  According to Dr. Legato in Why Men Never Remember and Women Never Forget, we start to lose the connection between the two sides of our brain.  I don't know if it's that process or some other similar one, but I guess in men, it starts in their 40s and steadily declines, while with women, it's a decade or so later, and it's more dramatic.  It has to do with (loss of) hormones, among other things.  So this brings me to the point of one of the side effects in women.  Since we depend on both sides to process what we hear (men don't as much), when we get in our 50s or later, it's much easier for us to misunderstand what's really being said.  We might miss the intonations, etc. that normally cue us in, and get more easily irritated or upset with someone when they meant no harm.  I've seen that happen, and it's just good to know how bodies work, etc. and what to expect when I get there.  I'll have to clarify more at that point to really make sure I know where the person's coming from.  Words can make all the difference, but so can connotation.  I can't tell you the number of times that I've talked with a friend who I try to 'spit back' what they've said to and they say, "No, that's not what I said/meant" only for them to explain it in their own words- the exact thing I thought I was saying.  crazy.  Makes life interesting.