A Road Less Travelled

Our family had big plans for Independence Day. We were going to sit on the front porch with a cooler full of soda and beer and be hospitable to all the people out and about. Last year there was a lot of activity on our street and this year we were going to be a part of that. I was kinda excited.

We got rained out.

That’s right, the plans we’d made for being home got rained out. It was just as well, though, because it was a very quiet and pleasant day. I spent most of the afternoon playing Plants vs. Zombies (which deserves its very own post) while various portions of the children watched. Seth even stopped by for a while and talked strategy. Seth and Crystal sat on the porch and talked and Hope spent much of the day in her happy place. We ate dinner on the porch which was only a little wet and then lit some of the worlds most pathetic fireworks. We cleaned up, the kids took baths, I played some more Plants vs. Zombies, and then we went to watch the fireworks.

We discovered last year that you can see the big firework display put on down by the river by Peoria and East Peoria from our corner. The cloud cover made for some fascinating and beautiful effects. Sometimes the fireworks would go so high they’d explode in the clouds and come raining down. I held first Noah and then Justice on my shoulders not so much because they couldn’t see, but because I wanted someone to enjoy the fireworks with. I can’t imagine watching fireworks by myself. In my experience it’s always been a time a group can all enjoy together. One year I was in Disney World the whole week leading up to the Fourth of July. In honor of Independence Day, and because it was Disney World, they had fireworks every night. My aunt, my sister and I were standing in line waiting for a shuttle one night when the fireworks started. An entire crowd of complete strangers started “Oooh”ing and “Ahhhh”ing in unison mostly on purpose. Fireworks are amazing unifier of people.

It was a very pleasant day. Nothing spectacular, but a quiet day of being a family together. Happy Independence Day.