She's been through the fire before

Ragged Old Flag

I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that's a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it"
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town?"
I said, "I think it is."
He said "I don't like to brag, but we're kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

"You see, we got a little hole in that flag there,
When Washington took it across the Delaware.
and It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it,
writing "Say Can You See"
It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson
tugging at its seams.
and It almost fell at the Alamo
beside the Texas flag,
But she waved on though.
She got cut with a sword at Chancellorsville,
And she got cut again at Shiloh Hill.
There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg,
And the south wind blew hard on
That Ragged Old Flag

"On Flanders Field in World War I,
She got a big hole from a Bertha Gun,
She turned blood red in World War II
She hung limp, and low, a time or two,
She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent
by her Uncle Sam.
She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She's been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she's getting thread bare, and she's wearin' thin,
But she's in good shape, for the shape she's in.
Cause she's been through the fire before
and I believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don't let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I do like to brag
Cause I'm mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"

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I heard this song on the radio tonight and a memory came to mind.

Before I tell you the first story, I need to tell you something. I am not a Fourth of July person. My dogs are terrified all weekend, and I'm not a hot weather or blowing stuff up kind of a person.

However, I do enjoy me some Johnny Cash. I heard this song on the radio tonight, and I started thinking about the most patriotic moments in my life.

I tried to wear red, white and blue today. The best outfit I came up with was a tank top with aqua, red, white, and light pink stripes with a blue cardigan over it.

Pathetic, I know.

The story I'm about to tell you involves a story about our flag, the Pledge of Allegiance and Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA.

It also involves the past and an ex, but that's the way life goes. Sometimes memories creep up in unexpected places.

So, here we go. Other than Eric Church concerts, here is the most patriotic moment of my life.

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The year was 2018, before the Coronavirus and before anything bad really happened to me in life.

I was stupid happy, mostly just stupid, but also happy as well. We'll get to that point later. Or maybe we won't. We'll see where thishereblogpost goes.

So, in 2018, I went on a weekend trip with the guy that I was dating to Oklahoma City. After a concert one night, we found ourselves at a piano bar in Bricktown.

We went back to it the second night we were there, too. It was that much fun.

Anyway, this story involves the first night at that piano bar. The concert we went to was good, at a cool little theater in a hipster neighborhood. What better way to celebrate good music than with good music at a piano bar downtown?

In case anybody doesn't know this about me, I think Oklahoma City was my first love in life. I grew up going on vacation there and I interned there in college.

The fact that I took a love interest to my favorite city was a big deal to me at the time.

Anyway, me and my love interest are at this piano bar downtown in my favorite city, ever. We had just gone on a tour of the canal downtown, and I'm remembering all of the moments of my childhood, playing putt putt golf and playing in the arcades downtown.

The piano bar we went to were playing typical bar songs. I remember Sweet Caroline playing, and I remembered thinking to all the times I belted out the lyrics at the top of my lungs.

It was a good night.

I'm trying to remember, here. The drinks were flowing and I remember thinking about stupid happy I was at that moment.

Well past midnight, around closing time, the two pianists started playing an unexpected song. Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA starts playing, and pretty soon a bar full of drunk lovers, bachelor and bachelorette party attendees stand up, take their hats off their heads and start belting the song out loud.

Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land

God bless the USA

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If I remember the story right, right after that song played, someone stood up and starting reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

So, what do you do when you find yourself in a bar at 1 a.m. downtown in a beautiful city with a beautiful man?

The only correct answer to that: You stand up, put your hand on your heart and you recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Was it kind of weird at the time? Yes. Was it the most patriotic thing that ever happened to me? Definitely.

And that's the most GO USA YOU ROCK story I can come up with at the moment.

Happy birthday, America!

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*This story really needs to be replaced with an Eric Church story. Next tour, I'm buying an American flag scarf and wearing it to his concert.