The National Anthem

so i didn't really know what i wanted to post about today because i'm sure everyone was doing the same thing that i was doing all day. barbecues, boating (if you have access to one of course!), basically just relaxing with close friends and/or family. i did all of the above. i must admit that my family is very patriotic and are extremely proud to be Americans so it goes without saying that the Star Spangled Banner was drilled into my brain, not only by my preschool teacher, but my grandparents as well (yes, us cousins would stand in a line and serenade the family...by choice fyi). so anyways, because not everyone knows our National Anthem i'm going to post the lyrics. they are beautiful and never forget what the men and the women in the military service who have lost their lives and what they have done for us and our country. God Bless you all.

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Happy Memorial Day Darlings.