Happy July 4th!

I can't believe July is already here-June just flew by so very quickly! Between birthdays, anniversaries, mothers/fathers days, and more, mid-May and June are just crazy times for us; so the days have flown.

And this weekend (tomorrow for my town) we celebrate the 4th with fireworks and fun. The 4th always has me reflecting on our founding fathers (and mothers, you know their moms had to be amazing women to raise such men). They were so brilliant, and forward thinking, and carried such deep perspective that still holds strong today.

Our favorite founding father? Benjamin Franklin (one of our sons might have that name, though I vetoed Franklin as the middle name. Yes, my husband tried to get me to agree to that...)My favorite quotes from Ben:

All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.
Benjamin Franklin, letter to Robert Morris, December 25, 1783

Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richards Almanack, 1749

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack, 1738

Such a wise man.

Happy 4th of Juy!!