Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, July 4, 2025.
In Week 27 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks to God for a treehouse in Mississippi.
I remember as a child growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, when I and a friend down the street built a treehouse.
My dad had just built a shed behind the house and we used left over boards and whatever other wood, sticks and nails we could could find around the neighborhood.
It was rickety as you might expect from a couple of ten-year-olds. It was essentially a crude lean to supported by the trunk of the tree and a couple of limbs. You had to climb in just so or the whole thing risked falling apart. It barely supported our weight, but it did and the one time we sat in it together was amazing.
We sat there all day practically, the passing of time marked by strobes of light that poked their way through our thatched roof and crawled across the floor. We talked some, sometimes in sitting in silence—but taking it all in. We couldn't have been more proud.
What a beautiful summer memory.
Such a simple but significant thing. Sometimes, we walk on gold so long that it becomes pavement to us.
Do you know how safe, care-free and wealthy you have to be for something like this to even be possible?
As a black man in Mississippi, I deeply appreciate this.
I have high hopes for my country—that it provides everyone with the freedom, safety and prosperity for their children to dream and build.
We can certainly be better.
But I am appreciative and thankful for what she already is.
Happy birthday, America.
I'm grateful.
#52WoG #4thofJuly #IndependenceDay
