Thank You America

[Nickodell]

40 years today I landed with $204 in my pocket (and owing $400 for the plane ticket on my credit card).

To put this in perspective:

I (and my beloved family) have been legal residents of this country for more than 1/6 of its existence as a nation, and closing in on 1/5.

If we had landed at the start of WWI in 1914, it would now be one year after the end of the Korean War.

It's been one fantastic experience, full of all the possible emotions, from triumph to tragedy, rags to riches (and half way back again). We arrived just in time for the Apollo 11 moon landing, and have lived through Vietnam, the Nixon saga, boom and bust times. I can only hope that we have made a positive contribution to the greatest nation on earth.

Thank you America.

 

[puff4]

Speaking as someone whose family came to these shores in 1670, and whose members have fought in each and every battle to create and defend this country and served in the government as well, I guess I'm about as qualified as any to say "You're welcome!"

My wife's family came from Czechoslovakia in 1950 and had an experience similar to yours, Nick. They, too, are staunch defenders of liberty, as they had precious little under communism, and they know how easily a country can fall into tyranny.