Happy Independence Day, everyone.  I hope your day and evening to come are all that you wish, and more.  I hope that if you are with family and friends you appreciate their loving companionship, and that if you are solitary on this holiday you feel others in your heart.  In short - I wish you joy.

Yet if, perhaps, that is not the path you're on today I hope you know you're not alone.  If you're feeling tired and weak, unable to find the celebration within you, it will be all right.  The date is July fourth, two thousand and nine because it comes between the third and the fifth of the month.  The day doesn't offer pressure to make it more than it is.  Tomorrow will quite likely be better than today, or it may take a bit longer to feel more like yourself.  Whatever the case, whatever you feel ... your own day will come, and you'll smile again.

So party on, or rest your mind.  Today represents much in which we find pride, and much to which we still aspire.  The fight to claim our right to uniqueness and freedom goes on.  Remember that those that battle often do so in different ways - some with a blaze of glory, some with quiet sacrifice.  All with a vision of what America can be if only we try hard enough.

Together.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday she would not seek a second term and would soon step down as governor.

She wants to affect change "outside government".  The national press is "picking apart a good point guard", and it's time to "pass the ball".

More to come, no doubt.  Any early thoughts?

Silliness, I know.  Yet I'm oddly curious about the subject.  I've been wandering around TPM for well over a year, and have always wondered why some people choose a photo (is it actually them?), some a character (their favorite?), some an animal (theirs?  reincarnation?) and some none at all.  It is often those that challenge my curiosity the most.  Perhaps they don't really care to be personalized ... perhaps they never gave it a thought.

Mine?  I looked around different avatar sites after having been here a while, I was clueless about the whole process.  I came upon the one I use accidentally - but it just hit me as perfect.  I see myself watching my life as I walk down a solitary road, winding and never-ending.  Always searching for the meaning just around the next bend.  Barefooted.

Yep, silliness.  So leave it alone and it will disappear into the vault of the useless thread.  No matter.  Or tell me what you were feeling when you decided on the perfect personification of yourself - whether it was long ago or yesterday.