Fourth Festivities

Our crowd keeps getting younger . . . I'm used to most of my friends here being in their mid-30's, some are starting to spill over into the 40's, but lately we've been running with the newlywed, 20-something crowd and it is a different experience altogether, lol! So much exuberance :)

We had lots of potential plans for Independence Day. Those got switched up a bit with Graysen's sleepless night and need of breathing machine nearness. He and I watched church at home while the rest of the Crew went in person. We had tentatively planned to attend a pancake breakfast with our NGFs, but decided the preceding no-sleep nights for most of us made a little extra rest a better idea. 

In the end, we decided to join hundreds of our uniquely-dressed neighbors (there are some very strange fashion senses out there--Hollywood meets Duck Dynasty might give you an idea of what I mean) at a first time celebration. Who doesn't want to eat at a questionable food truck or stand in line for an hour to get a scoop of melty ice cream? That's America! :) At the same time, a comedian did his best, a few speeches were made, and a country band did a GREAT job covering all the classics, new and old (new can have classics, too).

The very young guest pastor who preached at our church that morning (I had his wife in high school youth group with our girls at our previous church) was still FULL OF ENERGY even as we waited an hour past due for fireworks. He had our boys so riled up with goofiness and general life enthusiasm that it is amazing they didn't just deflate like balloons when we got to the van.

As the fireworks finally lit the sky, our friends' daughter climbed into a seat with Caelan to watch the show. Her dad, another young pastor who the boys lift weights with twice each week, sat in the "row" (it was an outdoor amphitheater, so not real rows) behind us. When there was a break in the action he said, "That's not it. They're not over!" I tended to agree with him, being an experienced fireworks watcher. But, sure enough, the organizers lit the big screen back up thanking everyone for attending. "What?! No grand finale? I've never seen a fireworks show without a grand finale!" Ha! He was right, it just sort of ended . . . then as we were all sitting in our vehicles waiting for the traffic to move through the natural bottleneck exit, they must have found a few more, because more sparklies lit the sky.

Fireworks always make me think of my dad. Maybe because his birthday was in July. He always encouraged us to, "Oooh! Ahhh!" appreciatively and as loudly as we could on the 4th, just made it a little bit more fun and interactive watching those pretty lights dazzle in the sky.