The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday, even as a young child I would choose July 4th over Christmas.  Now, some of this may have to do with the fact that my birthday is on July 9, so my family often had my birthday celebration on the Fourth of July.  But even as I got older, I loved singing along with the patriotic country songs that they play on the radio all day, wearing my star spangled t-shirt, saluting our troops, creating the barbecue to end all barbecues, and oohing and ahhing as fireworks exploded in the sky. We never had huge Fourth of July celebrations, but…