Hey there, America! Remember me? I know it’s been a while. For the past two years I’ve been residing in Germany, following the love of my life to yet another duty location. And as much as I love it here (and I definitely do), I often miss you.

You’re 242 years old at the time of this writing, Independence Day 2018, but, my, oh my, you certainly look good. You’ve been through a lot over these past almost two and a half centuries. You’ve had your ups and downs, but I still would choose you over living almost anywhere else.

You will always be my home, sweet home.

This year, for the second year in a row, I won’t be celebrating your birthday with fireworks (they’re illegal here in Germany except for New Year’s Eve or unless you apply for a special permit). But instead of celebrating with fireworks, I’m celebrating your birthday on the beaches of Normandy, touring the local D-Day history, and staying in a special place right on Omaha Beach.

At the American Cemetery in Normandy.

A place outside of America where Americans had a large impact.

Looking from Omaha Beach toward Point du Hoc.

You see, one of the greatest things about you is that there are many brave men and women that took an oath to fight for you. Either on our home turf or taking the fight overseas, as we’ve seen a lot over the years, even on D-Day with the Normandy Invasion.

There is memorial after memorial to the men who stormed the beaches to spread the ideals of the great US of A. Ideals that I know you still hold dear. Ideals that our forefathers had in mind when they took the great risk of separating from Great Britain, a risk that could have had them killed. Where ordinary men picked up arms to fight the British to preserve our new nation.

And with that bravery a new nation did come, and eventually, a set of freedoms that are not guaranteed in all nations the globe over: simple rights like those of free speech, a freedom to worship in our own way, a right to peacefully assemble to fight for causes close to our hearts, participation in free and fair elections, and so many other rights not available in many nations round the world.

The Declaration of Independence, which was ratified on July 4th, 1776, was the product of the colonists. They declared themselves Americans from states for the first time, working as one despite different backgrounds, different faiths, and different traditions, to complete a daring document that would catapult the U.S. forward to its own independent nation with its own set of laws and freedoms.

It’s been two years since I’ve been able to publicly show my admiration as we try to be low-key Americans in our German community. It’s been two years since I last wore my American Flag printed scarf, my small metal flag pin, or hung a flag outside my front door, but you are still as close to my heart as ever before.

Your flag, which we celebrated in June, still has prominence hanging on a wall in our home. Since our first apartment when my husband and I got married almost 10 years ago, your flag is the first thing up and the last thing down in each of our six homes so far. You can expect the tradition to continue.

Though I may not look forward to the bumpy roads and low speed limits, I won’t turn down some Chick-fil-A or shopping at Target.

I will appreciate the cheaper plane tickets to visit family or have them visit me. And I’m pretty sure I’ll enjoy having air conditioning again.

But I’ll also enjoy being able to fly your flag again, the symbol of our great nation that my husband has sworn to serve, that our family supports through and through.

Today I celebrate your ideals, the ones we teach our children about and that I support by fighting with the power of the pen to preserve.

I celebrate the amazing diversity of our country: races, religions, ethnicities, traditions.

I celebrate your beautiful national parks and look forward to, someday soon, viewing the varying landscape and topography our country has to offer: the spacious skies, the amber waves of grain, the purple mountains’ majesty, the fruited plains… All of it.

America, the Beautiful, I’ll be back on my home turf to reunite with you and celebrate your birth in another year. Let’s make it a big bash to celebrate my homecoming.

It’s a date.