July memories

The fourth of July has such happy memories for me. . . the American flag, parades, family, cookouts with watermelon and corn, facepainting, fireworks, and my favorite song "The Star Spangled Banner".

When I was living in Pittsburgh as a kid, the 4th of July meant ice cream sandwiches. Mom and Dad can tell you lots of stories about me running away from fireworks as a kid, and yes, I remember that too. But I also remember that when my family would watch fireworks (or in my case, run) we always, ALWAYS, went to the icecream truck for an icecream sandwich. Maybe mom didn't buy them in the store since they weren't nutritious enough, but as far as I knew, that creamy vanilla ice cream sandwiched by chocolate wafers only came out of the blue and white truck that cranked out Jingle Bells from its magical music box. I think one year I had an orange sherbet push-up instead, but I remember that was icecream sandwich day. Now that I can find those forzen treats so easily at the grocery store, they don't have quite the charm they did when I was a child.

So many of my 4th of July memories are the dry, hot, happy Texas days watching the parade in Lubbock going down Broadway St. I would sit with Mom, my brother Jason, Aunt Kathy and cousins Chris & Mike. We kids (well, I would start, and then as I got louder, they laughed more) would sing in a very silly voice, of course:

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway
They say there's always magic in the air
But when you're walking down that street
And you ain't had enough to eat . . ,

I never did learn all the words, but those silly moments made the Fourth of July my other favorite holiday -- tied with Christmas. Ages 13 to 16 I painted my lips with my blue eye-liner and red and white lipstick. I would get as close as I could to an American flag. It was creepy looking, I am sure, but I did it and I loved it. Some years I wore an outfit mom made for herself in the 70s; I felt like WonderWoman wearing the one piece, red zip-up suit with blue and white stars all over it. Those are probably the shortest shorts I ever wore in my life, and I am sure mom only let me out of the house in that costume because she used to wear it, and that would've been my arguement if she said no. So many of the moments that make me happy about the holiday were created in Lubbock after we moved there when I was 13.

As an adult, I remember a few fourths fondly. . . When we were in college and still engaged, we were in Lubbock with my Aunt Kathy, and joined by my grandma and Aunt Ann, Uncle Jim, and cousins Kathryn and Jamie. I forget if we went to the parade, but I still have photos of us being silly before the fireworks show. Post wedding, but before the kids came along, we were at Allen's parents' house and left the dogs in the backyard while we went to a neighbor's to watch fireworks. When we returned we found the dogs (ours and theirs) stuck in the dog house because they both went in to get away from the noise, but somehow couldn't get turned around to get out. A few years later, Allen and I walked with Will in his stroller to the park in Independence. That's something special too, spending Independence Day in a town called Independence. We listened to the community band and watched fireworks. Two years ago when I was pregnant with the triplets, our college friends and their boys came and we went to the park for fireworks, but the town's display was gone because it caught fire earlier and they all went off. We still got to enjoy other people's efforts while we sat with our friends. Last year was definitely a different one. The kids and I vacated Independence a week earlier than planned because the town flooded and the water was shut off. We were living as flood refugees with Allen's parents for a week before we were able to move into the apartment. It was still a festive day with a parade and fireworks, but Allen was still in Kansas working to get the refinery back together after the flood and subsequent oil spill. They cancelled the celebrations in Indy because there wasn't water to put out fires.

So now our family is in Texas and I am again anxious for the Fourth of July. This weekend we are at Allen's folks again. Tomorrow's menu is full of my favorites: sweet Texas corn-on-the-cob, succulent watermelon, grilled burgers, and some baked beans. We are planning to squeeze dinner in between the parade and fireworks, and hopefully, I can manuipulate the kids' naps so everyone can enjoy it all. That may be asking too much, but my goal is to enjoy the day and savor every bit that I can.