I was about to put The New York Times away and clear the breakfast dishes when I saw what was printed on the last page. I shouldn't have been surprised at seeing a reproduction of the Declaration of Independence-after all it was the fourth of July. I just wasn't expecting it.

I had forgotten that the Times reprints the Declaration every July 4, but not forgotten was the memory of my mother reading it to us every year on that day. Now, Mom was no more a patriot than any other mom I knew as a kid, but those words meant something special to her.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." She treasured the last sentence of the Declaration as much as the first: "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

Jefferson's sometimes-awkward prose reminded Mom of her parents and grandparents, who traveled and struggled to reach this land and how hard they worked to find "liberty and the pursuit of happiness." My brother, sister, and I didn't understand why the Declaration brought a small tear to Mom's eye and put a tiny quiver in her voice as she read it. We took all these blessings for granted, as children often do. And we certainly didn't understand that freedoms taken for granted are likely to be freedoms surrendered.

When I saw the Declaration of Independence printed again in the Times, I remembered and I understood. And I felt grateful for what Mom had read to me.