Independence Day

Ahh... Independence Day. If Memorial Day is the unofficial start to the summer, July 4th feels like the actual start.

We will go to the parade in the town next door to us, and have a front row seat from my Grandpa's yard. I've been going to this parade for as long as I can remember- with my parents and sister, with Steve, with Rosie and with both Rosie & Buddy. One year I had to work and was down right devastated that I missed it, another year I was in it, which was fun once but maybe not again.

This little parade means a lot to me.

After the fire trucks, marching bands and floats have made their way down the road, I'm sure we'll meander up to the center of town to check out the fireman's muster and the petting zoo. After Buddy has pet enough rabbits, we'll head back down to my Grandpa's and enjoy a simple picnic with my mom's family.

After that? It'll be a day like any other. Diapers will be changed, dishes will be washed, kids will go down for nap time. It never ceases to amaze me how on holidays, all the menial tasks and mundane chores still need to happen. I guess that's what being an adult is about.

We'll still try to do something special that evening. I believe we have some sparklers around here somewhere, and I saw that chix lobsters are on sale for less than five dollars a pound. We've decided to forgo fireworks because they start so late and I don't see Buddy being able to stay up for them. Maybe next year. There will always be fireworks, so I'm not too worried.

And probably by the time we've been going to fireworks regularly again for years, I will somewhat miss these years when we couldn't go, when life sometimes seemed too scheduled but also was like a crazy whirlwind that left you breathless, like how you feel when they blast the sirens on the fire trucks as they barrel down the parade route.