It's The 4th of July- Let's blow shit up!!!

I LOVE the 4th of July! And I LOVE fireworks! I love the big bangs, the  pretty colors and all the ooh's and ahh's. From my humble beginnings growing up in the Nevada desert- where we would travel to a tiny, tiny town called Schurz to buy illegal fireworks, to my now 9 year tradition of cheesy little fireworks in our backyard- I love the WHOLE thing.

What more could you ask for?

I love letting the kids run around the yard with sparklers while we sit around the bonfire visiting with whoever showed up this year. Typically I make too much food, and drink too much beer-but it is fun, fairly inexpensive, with no presents to buy anyone.. SCORE! 

Girl Child with fire...danger!

This is one of the few nights a year I allow The Boy to stay up past 8:00 P.M.  I am very lucky- he likes the fireworks. A majority of kids on the autism spectrum can't handle the noise and bright lights. My Boy LOVES it.  The 20 something always liked the fireworks too- now that he is older he has attended a few of the family backyard parties- but I rarely get to see him now. Teenzilla has pyro tendencies like her mom- and just enjoys setting stuff on fire. Last year she was allowed to light her own sparklers for the first time...you would have thought she was getting her license to drive.

Oohhh...Ahhhhh

But it seems that the anticipation, the excitement of 4th of July  has lost some of it's luster..what with fireworks every damn weekend beginning in June and going through August. I  kinda miss the once a year,  spray down  with bug spray grab a blanket to sit on get in the car and drive to a great viewing spot to ooh and ahh at the pretty sparkles in the sky. That anticipation has gone the way of Saturday morning cartoons. Sure- the kids love the fact that they have no wait time- but the SPECIAL-ness has gone out of it. 

The 4th of July is the pinnacle of summer for me. It's all down hill from here...with the exception of the kids' birthday celebrations and my anniversary  of course. But once this holiday is over- I can see September and back to school. Yet another summer gone- the kids are a year older, and  me just a little more bitter. The summers seem to be getting shorter and time is  passing by too damn fast.

So as you prepare to celebrate America's Independence by consuming copious amounts of alcohol and lighting shit on fire- please remember why you are doing it-  light a sparkler for a soldier- and above all else be safe.