2005-07-04

Boom

I watched the fireworks with some married friends and their kids, who lay on their backs on a blanket, squealing and kicking their legs in the air after each explosion. For an adult who's seen fireworks for years, the Fourth of July has lost some of its wonder. Listening to those little ones giggle made the whole thing so much more fun for me this year.

Molly asked me what I normally do for the Fourth, and I couldn't remember what I did last year. How sad is that? I still can't remember. So I just told her what I did for years when I was a kid: I watched the fireworks from my grandma's front yard.

The Fourth of July fell in the middle of a two-week visit to my grandma and grandpa's house in Central Ohio. A carnival came to town on July 1, so my cousins, my brother, and I spent the whole week running between Grandma's house and the park. On the Fourth, at least fifty people would come to Grandma's for a picnic. They came in spurts; most of them just popped by for a little bit and headed over to see other relatives. The park closed around eleven, so we'd head back to Grandma's. We'd set up lawn chairs in the front yard and watch the fireworks that they set off over at the school. Now the trees have gotten too tall, so it's harder to see.

In those days, I was excited about the Fourth. I loved watching the fireworks, eating "feesh" sandwiches, visiting Papaw at the fish stand, riding the Tilt-a-Whirl, and snacking all day. I could take it or leave it these days, though I enjoyed being part of someone else's family today and restoring some of that lost wonder with the kids at the fireworks show.

susabeth at 11:18 p.m.

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