I love the 4th of July!!

I love the 4th of July. I have loved it forever. I love the explosions and the colorful flashes and the smell. It, like many holidays, has the ability to create new memories and re-create the feelings of times past. The Fourth of July’s of my youth were filled with sparklers, firecrackers, ground flowers, lady-fingers, M-80’s, pop-its, bottle rockets and stinky growing snakes that disintegrated when the wind blew. The missile battery always sealed the deal and left us breathless and worn out. The street in front of my house as a kid was littered with the neighborhood display leftovers. It was great. The smell of smoke and burned paper lingered for days.


These days the rules have changed and personal use fireworks have diminished to a level un-fun to anyone familiar with the “good old days”. I suppose this is probably ok as a few roofs will, undoubtedly, be saved, not to mention, a few fingers. Though, there seems to me to be something uniquely American about a half-pickled Dad standing in the street holding a Roman Candle while his kids watch in awe and his wife watches with mild to intense trepidation. It is OUR holiday and being able to personally invest in recognizing this has some value to me.

But…so it goes and this year, I will stand with my kids at the Marina and watch our local show booming over the water. I will think this is great, too. My kids will tip their heads and stare, unblinking, to the sky and marvel at the spidering webs of smoke trails. They will flinch when the bombs fire and they will have goosebumps during the grand finale. I will, too. I love the grand finale.

Like many things in life, the experience will change for me as it will become more about my kids than me. But, buried not so deep will be the remembrance of warm summer nights coaxing my Dad to “light the big one!!” while sitting on my mom’s lap in our driveway eating popcorn and drinking grape soda, watching the show with the sleepy amazement that only belongs to children. I hope to recognize this in my kids and know that memories are being made for them that will last. These memories detail a life of quality and creating them my most important job as a Dad.

As life unfolds in its circular fashion, while my kids are watching fireworks on the Fourth of July this year, my son will be drinking a grape soda and my daughter will be eating popcorn on her mom’s lap. They will be happy and so will I. Life will be as good as it gets. They will remember it fondly and, in the future, as I look back on this current time, I will be satisfied that I did ok. I cannot and will not ask for anything more than this.