On July 4 1976 my friend and I attended the 200th Birthday of America on the Mall in DC. I'd never seen that many people in one place ever, and still to this day.

The DC Metro had just opened earlier that year. I was working and going to school at Montgomery College in Rockville, so it was a treat to take the day off and go downtown. The National Archives was open that day, we saw their copy of the Declaration of Independence, and signed the guest book that we were there. Gerald Ford was the President at the time and just by coincidence they were closing up and the last ones in line were able to sign the book next to the page that President Ford had signed several days before! I thought that was neat.

You never know what the future holds, six years later, after a long day of work for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) President Ford and I were relaxing in his hotel room at the Mayflower Hotel in DC, secret service in the hall. He fixed me a glass of bourbon and unwound talking about his family, his career and the characters we'd met that day. He then took a call from his wife Betty and I left...and I thought Only in America. I got to know him pretty well at AEI. 

Since then I've met so many folks - Presidents, celebrities and folks like you and me. They are all just folks, they put their pants on one leg at a time. Treat folks with dignity and respect and they usually return it in kind. America has a way of evening things out. Like you, I'm proud to be an American.

God bless America. Were you even around for the Bicentennial and what were you doing? Did you go this year?