Where has this summer gone? It’s the July 4th holiday with fireworks happening tonight. I feel like school just let out last week.
I’m spending my day hanging around home with my teenage son. He’s not much into spending much time with me, but what teenager is? At least he’s in the house.
We’ll be joining our small extended family for a get together later and view the city’s fireworks as we have done for a couple of years.
The memories
I remember when I was little and lived in my birthtown of Huntington. We would sit in the parking lot of the shopping center across from the high school football field where people set off fireworks.
I was always in awe of seeing the big displays in the sky. What kid wouldn’t?
Even as I grew older, I still enjoyed seeing the fireworks that the various cities where we lived set off each year. The fireworks where I have lived for nearly half of my life — both before I married and after I divorced — have the best displays.
And, of course, one year my parents and I were in MGM Studios in Disney World and saw the fireworks there. Those were awesome! No matter what park you are in they do fireworks every night, but it was still cool to be there.
Fireworks and family
When I got married and moved to a small town, we had to drive to another town if we wanted to see fireworks. Our small town didn’t do anything so we always had to drive 30 minutes to see them.
As my two kids were born and started growing up, I made sure they got their chances to see fireworks. When I filed for divorce and moved back to the town where I had lived before, we lived close to the park where they are set off.
So we could either sit in the back of our townhouse or walk a few steps to the park. Usually we stayed close to the townhouse because the park gets crowded.
But one year we did walk to the park. I remember watching my kids more than the fireworks in the sky. Seeing their eyes light up at the huge displays both on the ground and in the sky is something I will never forget.
When we moved into our house, we had a pool and had family and friends over for a get together and swim. Everyone pitched in different things for food, and we all had a good time.
But that only lasted a couple of times.
My son was getting older and wanted to set up some fireworks of his own. Of course, I was right there watching and making sure he didn’t do anything to hurt himself. Those things do scare me at the same time.
We had to be careful with our dog, Zoe, who is scared to death of loud noises. She doesn’t like fireworks and thunder so she hides and refuses to be outside. I often wonder what she went through before we got her from the shelter. If only dogs could talk.
Usually, we could see the city park’s fireworks over the trees from our driveway, but as the trees have grown over the 11 years since we moved in, they aren’t as easy to see anymore.
This brings me full circle back to where I started at the beginning of the memories of this Fourth of July holiday. For the last couple of years, my brother and his family have lived a few blocks from the city park where the fireworks are set off.
With or without my son, I have gone to watch the fireworks that we can see over the trees. We don’t walk to the park because of the crowd, but we have a great view from where we sit.
It’s hard when things change, but I can always create new memories and new traditions.