“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”
― Philip Pullman

It’s early July here in Tarboro and, having enjoyed a refreshing respite after the rains came through, we are looking at an increasingly warm week ahead. Time for a little more storytelling.

So today, with July 4th coming up fast, I thought this would be a good moment to share another segment from my memoir, this time turning the clock back almost 40 years to 1985.

The scene is the Federal District Courthouse, Rebekah and I are living in Pensacola, and I am writing about the day I took the oath to became an official citizen of the United States of America.

It was an interesting journey to get there – to get here. I can trace the story over nine and a half years, all the way back to the moment the pilot of our DC10 tilted the left wing coming in to New York’s JFK Airport from London, and I glanced out my window to find myself looking directly into the face of the Statue of Liberty.

That day was September 14, 1975, and I was only planning to be in the United States for a couple of weeks. But I think maybe I caught a twinkle in Lady Liberty’s eye, because one thing led to another and, well, here we are.

This reading is a little shorter than usual, at just five and a half minutes. If you enjoy listening, keep coming back to this space because, at least every week or so, there will be more.

Peace and blessings, always, and make July 4th an amazing celebration of not only your freedom, but everyone else’s too.

“America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!”

– DEREK