It seemed only fitting that on the eve of our FOURTH OF JULY I should be thinking about holidays of times past. The Fourth of July was always BIG in our family. I have no idea why, other than it was a different generation who were proud to be American. It was a different world all around but the Fourth of July WAS a celebration of patriotism and freedom. People knew what it meant to be able to live in the USA. They knew it was a privilege to be American and they knew how lucky they were to be living here.
My mom would always make a 4th of July cake. It was ALWAYS red, white and blue. Usually involving strawberries and blue berries and whip cream. We would have picked the strawberries and the blue berries and we would have whipped the cream ourselves. (No, we did not get the cream from the cow, we did live in "The City" after all.) The cake was always the high point of the day and after the cake we would wait for dark when my dad would go to the garage and bring out the metal box that he had brought home from work at the rail road. In the box would be a road flare that would be placed far down the dirt drive way where I couldn't get near it. He would magically light the flare and there would be a whooshing sound as it ignited. Everyone, mom, me and grand pa Joe would go "Ahaaaaaaa" as it would light like it was some piece of magic. We would be sitting in chairs on the front stoop and there we would stay for the evening as we watched the flare burn down. We would even have the neighborhood kids come to join us, like we were the rich folks who could afford to put on a show. It was the most exciting thing I can remember until the year that my dad took me to Maine on the 4th and we went to the capital building in Augusta to watch REAL fireworks. They scared the bejebbers out of me with all the noise even though I was 1o years old at the time. For years afterwards I never wanted to see fireworks!
That stupid old flare had been plenty for me, Thank you very much. Who needed these hi tech noisy things?
I think I talked about this last year so you can see how much a part of my childhood this was. The thing I haven't mentioned was that I always had to dress for the holiday! Never would there be a holiday that I wasn't dressed in the appropriate colors. Red, white and blue for the 4th, ALL red for Valentines. Lavender, pink and pale blue for Easter and of course orange and black for Halloween. (I didn't get into the all brown for ground hog's day until I started teaching.)
Yes, I was a weird kid . . . that's what happens when you don't have any siblings telling you how weird you really are. I just went through life thinking I was normal! I'm sure my parents knew I was weird but since I was all they had they just made the best of it.
All this was brought to mind tonight by our evening at the ball game. Our usual Wednesday night Silver Slugger game was on Tuesday this week because of the holiday. But tonight was also a celebration. After the game, at which my favorite Jupiter Hammerheads lost 4-6, there were fireworks! Big fireworks that I thoroughly enjoyed. The stadium was packed and there were lots and lots of kids there. Most of which were dressed for the celebration of our country's birth. Lots of red, white and blue and lots of stars and stripes. And was I dressed for the occasion? No, I'll save that treat for tomorrow. For tonight's game I was dressed in black and turquoise for the Jupiter Hammerheads!
It was a great evening for being and AMERICAN!
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