Is it the 4th?

One of the first thoughts that hit my mind as I woke up today was:
"It's the 4th of July." I remember celebrating Independence Day as a child. It was so much fun. There was always something going on. I think people knew how to celebrate our freedom better back then. I remember colorful patriotic parades down the main street in my hometown in Pennsylvania. I remember one year in particular when my family attended a fantastic picnic at a friend's house. The day was hot and sunny. All of my favorite friends were there to play with. We played hard, rolling down the grassy hill on the side of the house. The adults played inning after inning of softball. We cooked out hot dogs and hamburgers. There were salads galore and of course soda pop! Soda pop was a very special treat back then. I enjoyed my fair share that day.  All of us kids took turns cranking the handle on the old ice cream maker and enjoyed the fruit of our labor as it dribbled down our dirty chins. When it got dark, we had sparklers.

What fun it was to try and write your name in air and watch it disappear as quickly as you formed the letters. I remember my mom's friend Susan trying to keep up with the demand for freshly lit sparklers for each of the kids. As the hour got later we all took blankets and lawn chairs and climbed the short hill behind the house to watch the fireworks display in the next town over. We were not disappointed as we watched each launch explode in an amazing display of color and light. The view was perfect. I remember that being one of the best ever fireworks displays I had ever seen in my short six years of life. That night I went home completely covered in dirt from head to toe. My once neat pony-tails that my mom so painstakingly put in that morning were lopsided and almost completely fallen out. I remember falling into bed that night so completely exhausted, but unable to sleep because of the excitement of the day. It was a good day. It was the 4th of July, celebrated in the way our freedom should be celebrated.