��� 2004-12-03, 9:36 p.m.
Official
Well, it's official. Today I have a new nephew. Jae's adoption was completed today at the Gwinnett county courthouse. This means that two big things happened: my brother and his wife are officially parents, and today Jae became an American citizen. It was really special, he was all dressed up like a little man. Hehe. The judge was very cool and even remembered my brother from when he served on a jury that judge presided over years ago. Wild.
I got to the court house a little early and spotted a monument just off the parking lot. Being a bit of a history buff I decided to go check it out. It was built on a circle of concrete and had granite panels in a semicircle around the edges. On each panel were the names of soldiers, firefighters and police officers from Gwinnett county who had died in service. The names of soldiers killed in the Civil War (down here it's called The War Between the States) filled three panels. By comparison, those who died in the Vietnam war only covered a third of one panel. So much bloodshed right under my feet. Having grown up in an area where no war was ever fought, it's strange to look around me now and think about how years and years ago, some Confederate or Union soldier could have bled to death right where I'm standing. It gives one pause.
When I first started looking at the monument, the air was still. There were flags behind each of the panels, but because there was no wind I couldn't see what all the flags were. Then at that moment, a long breeze came through where I was standing and unfurled the flags so that I could see them perfectly. The first one was the Gadsen flag, the flag with the battle cry of our revolutionary war soldiers, bearing the image of a snake and the famous words "Don't Tread on Me." People now seem to think this flag is some white supremacy wacko militia thing, but it is actually a part of American history. Funny that no one thinks old versions of the US flag are fringe-group icons. A really interesting history of the Don't Tread on Me Gadsen flag can be found at http://www.foundingfathers.info/stories/gadsden.html.
Ok, enough of the serious stuff. I'm FINALLY picking up my car tomorrow. I can get rid of the ozone depleting gas chugging terrorist funding SUV. Yey! Paying for this rental is going to break the bank. Yeesh. But I will finally have my car back, after the shop dangling it before me like a carrot all week. This calls for a celebration. Hmmm. (Plans commencing for a dinner out are beginning now.)
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