Never before in the more than 11 years I have spent in Armenia, have I witnessed an atmosphere of unity and unfettered positiveness in the streets of Yerevan as I have today.  This evening as I battled my way out of Republic Square an hour before the show was to begin, I was awed by the seemingly never-ending wave of people- young, old, groups of friends, whole families rolling towards me...from the square all the way over to Mashtots in Amiryan Street.  They wanted to take part, to witness this.  The square was already stuffed. Party time.

I must have seen hundreds, if not thousands of karmir, kapuit, tsirane-guin decorated cheeks during the day...in the shape of hearts, in three even stripes, in a random sprawl- smiling faces, old ones, young ones. Today they are Armenians first, and pro-gov, opposition, unemployed, street vendor, teacher, oligarch second.

There is a carefree party atmosphere in the air, and everyone wants to soak it up.  A 'we will deal with tomorrow tomorrow' kind of feeling.

There are dissenters.. A handful of people protesting against Russian participation in the military parade and parents of soldiers killed by their own were roughed up by the police...unnecessary and unwise, no pressure valve for dissent permitted.  And on Facebook friends expressed views of a military independence day parade not being their idea of what Armenia should be or saying that Armenia will not be free until gender equality is achieved.

Still, these voices were in the definitively very small minority.

Quite noticeably, my own apprehension at seeing all that military hardware was less this year than previously.  It somehow this year did not seem as ominous, as threatening.  I was fascinated by the female gunner contingents, the priest brigade, and the seemingly papier-mache drones.  I noticed the big missile casings only to wonder if there really was something inside of them, or whether they were the S-300s or the S-400s.  I was quite comfortable with the whole thing.  It was impressive.

And I have never seen President Sargsyan seem so calm, so collected, so confident.

Yet, the problems this no-longer-pubescent country face are big and complex- but not insurmountable.  The oligarchy. The artificially strong currency.  Emigration.  Job creation.  Corruption.  Domestic violence.  Free media.  Sustainable utilization of natural resources.  Acceptance of those who are different.  Truly free and fair elections.  Just to name a few of the ones I personally feel are vital to a healthy Armenia- to a healthy any country.

These are yes, big and complex.  They will not be fixed in a day, a week, a month, a year, a decade.  But each of us has a responsibility to chip away at them to the best of our ability every day, every week, every month, every year, every decade, so there is movement.

Or nothing will change.

But for today, Armenia is in a party mood.  I am happy for them, proud of them.  They exist.  Armenia exists.

Proud of you, Armenia.  Congratulations.

But tomorrow we have work to do.

Chip chip