The 4th of July

I am very "bloggy" lately...oh well, when it rains, it pours I suppose.

I do not like the 4th of July. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE this country. I love living in the USA and I love apple pie and hamburgers and hot dogs. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It's just the means of celebrating our freedom that sends me running for a dark room, and makes me want to shove those foamy ear plugs into my ears. The sound of fireworks, the deep boom they make that reverberates through my entire body, and the ever present fear that one might, just might, blow a hand or foot (or both) off all in the name of Lady Liberty makes me cringe and wish wish wish for July 5th...ANYWAY...I've already blogged about my hatred for celebratory explosives, so I'll get to the REAL reason for this post. The REAL reason for this post is to tell you that my husband, the man I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with, my "soul mate", my partner...yeh, that guy....he LOVES fireworks (I think secretly he would tell you that he likes most anything that blows up and fireworks are a GREAT excuse to channel his unnatural obsession)...yet another example of "opposites attracting" But you see the problem we run into is that we have procreated--not once, but twice--and Earl feels that it is his obligation to expose our offspring to the American tradition of blowing stuff up on the 4th of July. So I just stepped back, packed a cooler, and let him do his thing. And what fun we had. I honestly say that with ALL sincerity. I'm truly glad we went. The fireworks were loud, yes. But the community orchestra was mostly on key and the light show was beautiful. Both children had a fantastic time and I do believe a memory (and a family tradition) was made. I told Earl in the car on the way home that next year I will most certainly dig my heels in and insist that fighting the crowds just to see stuff explode is not worth the trouble, but to make me go anyway...to remind me what fun we had the year before. It's a good thing these kid have two parents....one to make sure there's lots of fun memories being made and one to pack the cooler.