Happy Fourth!

 

So another Fourth of July. Yah… I think I’m a bit jaded. Fourth of July and fireworks really doesn’t do it for me anymore. Of course, a lot of that probably has to do with where I live. Santa Ana is, of course, overly crowded and sadly I have seen a fireworks stand pop up on about every other vacant corner. So what does that mean? It means that the parking lots around the house will soon become a war-zone to illegal fireworks, smoke, burning sulfur, and a disgusting amount of trash resulting from ignorant people refusing to clean up after themselves. Siiiiiigh.

But I promised myself I was not going to sound like Mister Bitchy. Instead, I’m gonna focus on happy memories. I think my favorite fourth of July celebrations were back in Ptown. Maybe it was because I was a kid. Or maybe it is because we always ended up on the beach (perfectly walkable from the house) to watch the fireworks over the bay. The ultimate, of course, was the fourth of July in 1976. As the nation’s bicentennial, that particular year was a Great Big Huge Deal. And that year, we went to Boston to watch the Boston Pops and see the fireworks show over the River Charles. My Aunt Carol, a truly remarkable and wonderful woman, threw together a huge and decadent picnic spread for us, but forgot one thing – NON-alcholic drinks. So good portugee eight year old that I was, I filled up on rum-n-cokes all afternoon and felt more lit than the fuses on the fireworks by the time the show started.

A few times, we avoided the crowds on the beach and instead walked across the street to watch the fireworks on the deck of my “Aunt Dickie”. My mom’s best friends, Dick and John, lived across the street from us, and had a wonderful second-floor deck. Out there, we could enjoy space, a great view of the harbor, munchies, and of course, drinks. My mom absolutely loved it – not only because they mixed really strong drinks, but because I think she always had an affinity for gay men. And Dickie was… well… femboyant. Heck, what’s a fourth of July without flames, right?

Ah… the memories of childhood and holidays. A time when sparklers really held mystique. So how about you? What are some of your favorite fourth of July memories?