My fiftieth Fourth

barrelmakersdaughter.com ♦ July 4, 2012 ♦ 2 Comments

I woke up this morning and realized this is my fiftieth Fourth of July.  While this one is going to be spent working on a lot of homework, I couldn’t help but reminisce about celebrations past.

My primary memories associated with the Fourths of my childhood involve decorating my purple bike each year.  I remember weaving the red, white and blue streamers through the wheel spokes and attaching small flags to the handlebars.  I can vaguely remember riding up and down the sidewalks, but that memory is overshadowed by the decorating itself.  And while I know that going to the fireworks show at night was always involved, adorning the bike is what I picture the most.  It must have something to do with that whole accessory thing I wrote about before.  I do like to make things look nice.

Then my memory jumps to my late teen years.  A boyfriend’s family invited me to go away with them for the Fourth of July holiday to a relative’s home in another state.  It was my first experience with anyone setting off their own fireworks and I was a reluctant participant.  At each of my two high schools there had been at least one student dealing with the aftermath of a fireworks-related injury, so I wasn’t excited to join in. They told me they’d start with something “harmless” that I would certainly enjoy–bottle rockets.  At the lakeside they put small Coke bottles in the sand, pointed at the water.  After demonstrating how easy it was, they told me it was my turn. So I slid the bottle rocket in, bent down to light its fuse, and waited for it to sail out over the water and explode, just like all of theirs had.  Only it didn’t do that.  It kind of plopped forward out of the bottle, nose-dived  at an angle into the sand, then sailed sideways, straight into the rear end of an uncle bent over to light his own bottle rocket.  And that’s where it exploded–the backside of that kind relative whose home I was visiting.  I was mortified.  Suffice it to say that has been my only experience with setting off fireworks of any sort. Sometimes the universe is good about telling you what to stay away from, so I think the least I can do is listen!

My last vivid Fourth of July memories are from the time when my daughters were young.  Red, white and blue outfits, hair bows with stars and stripes…I had two extra people to coordinate and accessorize!  I was in heaven.

Today what I associate with the Fourth of July are my friends who have children serving in our military and how much this patriotic holiday means to them. They are the ones with the most touching displays on their Facebook pages this day.  I will be thinking about them as they have family celebrations without their beloved soldier who is away serving, often overseas.  I pray that all those brave men and women get to come home safely so that they, too, may one day reminisce on their fiftieth Fourth.