Did everyone enjoy their Independence Day yesterday? I certainly hope you did. As we ate ALL the food, and listened to ALL the OneRepublic songs and watched ALL the fireworks light the night sky, it didn't feel like there was anything HALFWAY about the day for us.
My mother was very patriotic. There was no halfway about it. She loved the colors red, white, and blue. She coerced my father into installing a permanent 20-foot flagpole in our front yard, where he reverently flew our country's flag. Every day. Not just on holidays.
She played John Phillips Sousa records in the house, where I learned the fine points of marching to a march.
In 1976, America's bicentennial, Mom was appointed to be the bicentennial chairman for our region. I was 11. Community service projects were organized. Speeches were given. Flags were flown. Monuments were raised. A grand ball was held, in period costume. My mother sewed two full colonial dresses and bonnets; one for me, and one for her. I still have mine. Both of my daughters wore it in their fifth grade wax museums, as Abigail Adams and Martha Washington. It became a Betsy Ross Halloween costume. My mom would have been proud at how many times her sewing was useful to her posterity.
This was my mother. When she did something, she did it ALL THE WAY. There was no HALFWAY about it. We often hear terms like half-brained, half-cocked, half a mind to, terms that suggest we, as humans, tend not to finish the projects we begin, or reach the goals we set, or complete a job to the best of our ability. When we think this way, we're doing a great disservice to ourselves and those involved in the project or goal or job that we're not completing.
When I asked my mother if a real colonial girl's dress would have been bright red with blue soldiers on it, she said "Probably not, but if we're going to make the dress, we're going to make it the best dress it can be."
That is sound advice for us all. If we're gonna make the dress, then make the dress. There is no halfway.
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