06/27/2026
Per, my husband just wrote this beautiful tribute in an email to me and to our grown up kids this morning and I thought it was worth sharing.
“Almost 50 years ago, I arrived in New York City as a young Swede. From the first moment I saw the skyline of Manhattan, I was in awe. I have been ever since.
America was not just a country to me. It was an idea. A promise. A place where ambition was not something to apologize for, where freedom was not merely spoken about, but lived, defended, and tested every day.
As America reaches its 250th anniversary, we are not simply marking the passage of time. We are honoring one of the greatest experiments in human history: the birth and endurance of a nation built on liberty, self-government, individual opportunity, and the belief that rights come not from rulers, but from a greater power.
The story of America is not one of perfection. No great human story is. It is a story of courage, struggle, sacrifice, renewal, and relentless belief in the future.
From Lexington, Concord, Yorktown, Gettysburg, Appomattox Court House and to Normandy, from the pioneers and railroad builders to the entrepreneurs, inventors, workers, and immigrants who built the modern economy, America became the most powerful and dynamic nation the world has ever known because its people were free to dream, create, risk, and succeed.
The United States did not merely influence the modern world. It shaped it.
American strength defended freedom. American innovation transformed technology, commerce, and industry. American markets fueled global growth. American power helped preserve civilization through wars, crises, and confrontations that could have consumed it.
And even today, despite the endless criticism from those who take its existence for granted, millions around the world still look to America as the land of opportunity, constitutional liberty, and hope.
For me, that feeling began almost 50 years ago, staring at the skyline of New York City. It has never left.
America is more than a nation. It is a living idea. It is the belief that freedom survives only when it is defended, that prosperity endures only when it is earned, and that civilization itself depends on strong nations willing to protect it.
Two hundred and fifty years later, the American experiment still stands, tested by time, conflict, sacrifice, and renewal. That endurance alone remains one of the greatest achievements in human history.
Thank you, America.” 🇺🇸
