Cloze: The Declaration of Independence

A couple of weeks ago, my Aunt Laney threw her annual 4th of July celebration. ___________________________(1) I'm not overly patriotic, the rest of my family is, so I attend year ___________________________(2) year. Luckily, though, this year she didn't ___________________________(3) us wear matching t-shirts for the group picture.

Independence Day is a day when you get together with your family, grill some meat, and shoot fireworks, ___________________________(4) or not they're legal in your state. At my aunt's house, we had paper plates with the flag on ___________________________(5) . She gets really excited.

We're taught that, ___________________________(6) July 4th, people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams signed the Declaration of Independence, and although that's not entirely accurate, it was nice ___________________________(7) have a date to focus all that patriotism on. Most of the signatures are ___________________________(8) from August 2nd.

I can remember, when I was ___________________________(9) the sixth grade, being forced to memorize the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, ___________________________(10) , when considering ___________________________(11) antiquated the language is, was difficult for me. I can ___________________________(12) walking down the halls of my high school and ___________________________(13) a copy on the walls. I couldn't read it, ___________________________(14) the handwriting was impossible, but I remember it. I can't remember any teachers I had at that time, but I remember which wall it was on, how high on the wall it hung, where in the hall it was, and how old it looked. I remember because I was told  ___________________________(15) .

Adapted from an article by Kelly Sessions