Most of you probably guessed the topic of today’s post. However, unless you know me well, you may not have expected it to begin with this: I think it’s very frustrating when I hear people "the 4th of July”!! We don’t say “the 25th of December” do we? No! We say “Christmas” because that’s what we’re celebrating!
Well, today, we aren’t celebrating “the 4th of July” – we’re celebrating “Independence Day”! So let’s say it like it is people!
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I decided to pull out my dictionary and define what independence means: “freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others”. Not freedom from others, freedom from their control. How many of you can use some freedom from trying to control yourself?
Today as a nation, we celebrate – with food, friends, and fireworks – the amazing blessing of being free from the control of other nations. Makes me wonder, though, how many people really remember what today is. I have to admit, I enjoy most food, LOVE my friends….but hate fireworks. Agitating. Just saying. In fact, I don’t remember ever enjoying a fireworks show, although I have many memories of watching them from growing up. The colors are pretty, and the patterns; it's the noise that gets to me.
One year in particular, I was thirteen; we went to Spokane, WA (just 16 miles east of my hometown, Cheney). We rode the bus, went to lunch at a buffet place, and then to Riverfront Park to hang out until the show. There were people everywhere, thousands of them. I don’t like being around that many people. Or noise. Or the fireworks. Then on the way home, there were these three drunk guys who decided to have a conversation with us (my brother Josh, my friend Ginger, and myself).
Being the kind of person who says what they’re thinking with no real filter, I was very sarcastic and probably a little rude; I don’t remember what I said, just that they told me I was like Darlene, one of the daughters on the tv show “Roseanne.” For a few years following, my brother called me “Darlena” just to annoy me. Just one of many formative memories from my childhood that make me cringe at the thought of celebrating….but. Happy Independence Day!
I like fireworks. They are pretty, colors and patterns. I don't mind crowds or traffic. I just don't like being with someone that tries to rush and beat them. I one that stays put until everyone is gone and then leaves. LOL I love to people watch and those are the kind of places to watch people.
ReplyDeleteNow...I have a small dog that is terrified of fireworks. Because of him, I wish the neighbors didn't shoot them off.