One thing I absolutely love about our neighborhood is the flag-lined streets we get to enjoy 11 times a year on certain holidays. It is quite a sight to see every house with a flag proudly displayed in their yard.

But these flags don’t magically appear in front of everyone’s houses. Nope. It takes a lot of effort on a lot of people. The neighborhood is divided into three routes and families take a turn every year running one of the routes on one of the 11 days we put out flags. It’s a community effort and it’s worth every whining child!

This morning, for Civil Rights Day, our family fulfilled our annual responsibility. We woke up before the sun was up to load flags into our car and place them in yards and this evening before the sun went down we were back out there collecting them. We had a lesson on flag etiquette (which is always a great reminder) and played Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American”.

And the majority of us had good attitudes…Until somebody couldn’t find the sleeve (marked with a red dot on the sidewalks) or the sleeve was full of rocks or dirt that had to be cleaned out before inserting the flag or the sleeve was full of water that would shoot up at you when the flat was inserted.

Service is not always rainbows and butterflies, but I’m glad we have the opportunity to contribute with our kids.