The 4th.

Of all the holidays we celebrate, I would assume none is hokier than the 4^th of July. We dress up in red, white and blue, have parades, and best of all shoot off fireworks to celebrate an event that happened nearly 225 years ago. If that’s hokey, that’s fine with me. As my kids know, the 4^th of July is my very favorite holiday---even more than Arbor Day and we know that’s a really big holiday!

When I tell people I love the 4^th of July, they will usually ask why not Thanksgiving, Valentine’s or Christmas/ Chanukah? Why? Because unlike these other holidays this is my favorite time of the year and it’s in celebration of the birth of America. That is truly a reason to celebrate.

Growing up we had some traditions on the 4^th of July; we would often buy fireworks in St. Charles (a local area) because they were not illegal like they were where we lived. We would also go to the Washington University area and watch the spectacular fireworks show---but what I remember most is having a summer dinner with my family. It would always consist of one thing no matter what the main dish happened to be--- corn on the cob. My Mom and Dad would buy fresh corn either at a nearby stand or where my Dad worked. It didn’t matter---it was always good and in abundance. But it didn’t stop there; when we ate corn, we ate it row by row. When we were done with an ear, there was not a spec of corn left on it. Yes it’s odd, but it was good and it made the corn last longer. Oh, and I didn’t use butter on the corn, always salt and pepper. Go figure.

Since we are on true confessions, I am probably the only person I know who actually told a police officer he had fireworks back at his house when he was caught---he asked me, I did and ran as fast as I could to give them all I had. I am not sure who is laughing harder, my family or that police officer---both probably still tell the story. At least I know my family does!

The photo above is from today’s parade. For me, nothing is more patriotic than a parade celebrating the birth of our country. We were very fortunate this year as we had very good weather---something that does not happen every 4^th of July. I am looking forward to next year's 4th of July; it's hard to believe it will be 25 years since the bi-centennial...I am sure we will have a lot of the same as we have every year, but that's okay by me. Because when it's your favorite holiday it usually lives up to the memories.

Thanks for stopping by.