While most people were spending Saturday barbecuing, eating watermelons and watching NASCAR, I spent the day moving to Clanton.

My day started early, really early for a journalist who is used to working late into the night.

I woke up around 4 to finish packing my last few boxes before some family members arrived to help me load up the U-Haul at 7 in a futile attempt to beat the summer heat.

Moving proved to be harder than I thought it was going to be. Getting the boxes packed was the easy part.

The actual act of moving stuff beat me up pretty badly.

First of all, I dropped a bookcase on my foot, which caused a pretty nasty cut. But I learned a valuable life lesson: Don’t carry heavy items while wearing sandals.

We also had trouble fitting everything into the truck. We eventually had to take furniture apart to get everything inside.

Once I got to my place here in Clanton, I spent the rest of the day unloading and putting things back together.

By nightfall, I was tired and in a pretty cranky mood.

But I decided to go to Clanton’s fireworks show, and I’m glad I did.

Sitting in the back of my pick-up truck, I had my first minute all day to think about what the Fourth of July is about. Though it might sound corny, July 4 should make each of us realize what a blessing and privilege it is that we were born in America.

We have such freedoms, opportunities and mobility here in America, and I’ll try to remember that next time I start bickering.