What a wonderful country I live in to have all the freedom the USA offers. July 4th is a great reminder to honor our country and all the people before us who have paved the path for us to live this amazing freedom.

As a woman, I think about the great stride made in my lifetime where I have more freedom.

• During college, woman couldn’t wear pants. Today, woman can mostly wear anything they desire.

• 75 percent of women 25 to 54 years old are working, up from around 40 percent in the 1950s.

• When I began college, typical degrees that were offered for women were nursing, teaching or MRS. (getting married). Today, there are so many options for women. We still have a long way to go in many fields but we have come a long way!

• There is more equality in the workplace for women. We still don’t have equal number of women in the upper management positions or equal pay we hope to have someday. Wow, what freedom and opportunities we do have compared to when I entered the workplace.

• Men are sharing caretaking and housekeeping tasks in greater numbers than when I first was married.

• "What happened on the road to gender equality?" said Suzanne Bianchi, a sociologist at the University of Maryland. "A lot of work happened." Bianchi, who studies time-use surveys done by the Census Bureau and others, has concluded that contrary to popular belief, the broad movement of women into the paid labor force did not come at the expense of their children. Not only did fathers spend more time with children, but working mothers, she found, spent an average of 12 hours a week on child care in 2003, an hour more than stay-at-home mothers did in 1975.

This holiday allowed me to take a moment and reflect on the freedom I feel. It was neat to feel the progress made in my lifetime. I am blessed to be part of this great land of opportunities and freedom.