Chip, Me and Shooter Jennings: Singing on the 4th of July

One year ago today, Chip and I sat in his Ford F150 pickup truck in front of my parents’ house in Ohio. I can’t recall the reason why we were in the truck (maybe we were sent to get ice or something from the grocery store?). Before going into the house with our acquired items, we sat in the truck, listening to music and talking about everything and nothing all at once, just as we had countless times before. He thought of a song (songs always popped into his head at perfect moments) and he played it for me on his phone. While it played, he started to cry, and then laughed and smiled saying “I don’t know why I’m crying” and “I’m so weepy lately.” Together, we cried and laughed as well as agreed it was OK to be moved for reasons unknown.

The song was Shooter Jennings' “4th of July” (listen to it here if you like). This will always be my favorite part of the lyrics because of the way he looked at me when he sang it to me:

And I'm singing to you, you're singing to me

You were out of the blue to a boy like me

You were pretty as can be, sitting in the front seat

Looking at me, telling me you love me

And your happy to be with me on the 4th of July

We sang 'Stranglehold' to the stereo

Couldn't take no more of that rock 'n' roll

So we put on a little George Jones and just sang along, sang along

I played the song for myself this morning before I did anything else. After I gathered myself together, Sam and I went to the 17th annual neighborhood 4th of July breakfast hosted where 2 roads in the neighborhood converge. The number of people walking in the parade (while American flags are hung on telephone poles along the road) was only a fraction of what it has been the last 10 or so years due to COVID-19, but Sam and I felt compelled to go (He for the donuts, me for the celebration of core American values and principles). Just as we arrived to the get-together, the woman who has run the parade/breakfast since its inception gave a speech filled with heartfelt expressions of gratitude for her neighbors and the people present today, our Veterans and those who sacrificed their lives for my and my kids’ freedom. She shared the history of the parade and neighborliness on this special day.

When she was done, a 30-ish year old man took the microphone from her and began to sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Chip and I remarked last year (and every year that we came together) how so many of the young people at the event didn’t know the words to the national anthem. He always sang the song with such gusto using that amazing singing voice of his. I cried this morning as I tried to squeeze out the words of the anthem, thinking how Chip would have felt so proud to be an American today standing alongside the small, but exemplary, slice of We the People in America. I could hear Sam (who did know the words!) filling in the gaps when I was unable to hit a note or lyric while choking on my tears. Hearing Sam fill in the space where Chip would have stood brought comfort and peace to me in that moment.

God bless Chip’s departed soul. God bless the American people. And, God bless the United States of America.