Happy Birthday US Flag

Flag Day is on June 14th. This year marks the 231st birthday of the U.S. Flag. The American Flag is also called the Star-Spangled Banner, Stars and Stripes and Old Glory. The flag has 13 stripes representing the 13 original colonies, which rebelled against the British crown and became the first states in the Union, and 50 stars representing each of the 50 U.S. states.

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress officially declared the Stars and Stripes the U.S. Flag. The idea to celebrate Flag Day was originated by a Wisconsin school teacher named Bernard J. Cigrand. In 1885, he had the children at Fredonia Wisconsin Public School observe Flag Birthday (Flag Day), on the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of the Stars and Stripes. He made his first public proposal for the annual observance of the birth of the flag when he wrote an article titled "The Fourteenth of June" in the old Chicago Argus newspaper in June 1886. The idea caught on and soon more schools were celebrating Flag Day with special activities. On May 30, 1916, the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson officially established Flag Day as June 14th. On August 3, 1949, President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day. In spite of this, teachers and children were celebrating it long before.

Flag Day is a very special day for me too--IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!! I miss the Flag Day parade, which I felt was also for me, passing outside our office window every year, when I worked at Bank of America on Wall Street in Manhattan, NY. Ironically, I didn't realize my birthday was on Flag Day until I was about 21. I am blessed to see another year. I will turn 51 this year, beginning the second half of my life's journey. I have accomplished a large percentage of the goals I've set for myself and have started working on setting more. I've raised two handsome sons as a single mother, with guidance from the Man above, and have three beautiful grandchildren---a grandson and two granddaughters. Thinking back on the first half of my life, I'm not going to say if I could do it again differently I would. Without going through what I have, I wouldn't be where I am. I'm thankful for the journey of my life so far, and I wouldn't or couldn't change a thing. Now I'm looking forward to the next half of my journey while achieving more goals and watching my youngest son and grandchildren grow up.

I faced many challenges I have pulled through, learned from and became more knowledgeable of. I dealt with the next one more skillfully, as a result of the last one. The most important thing to remember about life's challenges is, it is not so much the challenge itself as it is how you deal with the challenge, and get through it in the very best way possible, with a lot of guidance from the Man above. Remember, as the sayings go, "Only the Strong Will Survive" and "It's A Dog-Eat-Dog-World".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE U.S. FLAG and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME !!