The 4th of July has always kind of been a big deal to me, ever since I was a small child. My mom and I both have the tendency to become attached to traditions, and holidays in general become major productions for us both. Being a nostalgia junkie, as I have repeatedly mentioned, the opportunities for life-long memory making are vast!
The festive 4th is no exception. When I was very young, our neighborhood put on a 4th of July Parade every year. I would pick out my red, white, and blue outfit months in advance, and my mom would adorn my hair with patriotic barrettes and ribbons. (It is interesting to note that my mom and I are now quite preoccupied with what my daughters are going to wear for the 4th of July each year. I’m quite certain they don’t care nearly as much as we do.) My brother and I would decorate our tricycles, dress up, and join the parade. In my warped memory, this parade was HUGE. Like, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade huge. I’m sure in actuality it was kind of lame.
Please note the fantastic apparel on all parties.
It’s hard for me to determine which of my 34 4ths of July (4ths of July? Or is it 4th of Julys? Kind of like culs-de-sac, huh? I digress.) qualifies as the “Best Ever.” It’s important for me to rank them, being a big fan of superlatives, so here are some of my most memorable:
- 1983– My first conscious neighborhood parade recollection. See above photo documentation.
- 1985– We spent the evening with my BFF Anne and her family, and the police stopped by their house to reprimand our parents for using illegal fireworks. Anne’s older brother, whom we considered an expert on pretty much everything, came running past the three younger children with an unmistakeable look of terror on his face that will be forever emblazoned in my brain. He announced that our parents were being taken to jail, and we all ran into the house sobbing. In fact, this event inspired one of my first pieces of narrative nonfiction, written in elementary school. I think I may have to dig that one out. (Spoiler Alert! They were not, in fact, arrested.)
- Some random year in the early 90s: My extended family had a reunion, and we all watched the fireworks together. We were also all wearing matching T-shirts. We looked awesome. Sorry I couldn’t find a picture.
- 1999- I was a cool college kid, and spent the holiday at a friend’s parents’ vacation house on the mighty Mississipp’. (Or was it the Missouri River?) During an unfortunate tubing incident, my bikini bottom was sucked off into the river and lost forever. Climbing back aboard the boat was either a moment of great humiliation, or great pride, depending on one’s 20 year old perspective. (Or maybe this happened over Memorial Day. Huh. All those patriotic holidays tend to run together when you are a beer-swigging youth.)
- 2012– I would have to say that last year’s 4th of July will go down in infamy. I swear I did not orchestrate this event in an attempt to recreate the legendary parades of my youth: my then-5-year-old daughter decided we would be entertaining the neighbors with a parade of our own. I cannot do this story any further justice; I wrote a post about it last year, one of my favorites ever, but had to take it down because the story is now published in an anthology. If you want to read Heartbreak and the Young Entrepreneur, you’re going to have to pay for it. That sucks. (I will reinstate it as soon as contractually allowed, next winter. I know you were dying to know.)
Note: the family patriarch is now wearing longer shorts, the “clown” from 1983 is now juggling sticks, and the girls have festive matching dresses. Score!
So, being the queen of the “Best Evers,” I will now announce my best 4th of July EVER, per the parameters of this week’s Finish the Sentence Friday.
The best 4th of July I ever had was 2010, when my daughter was 3 years old.
It was unseasonably cool that day, and downright cold by evening. Now that I have a second child, I look back fondly at the days when it was just Izzy; the 4th of July that year was one of those special days when it was just the two of us, as Daddy was at work. (As you might imagine, the 4th of July is a big day for the City’s Lion’s Club celebration, and my husband works for the City. I will refrain from sharing any more details about the somewhat People of Wal-Mart-esque attendees of said festival.)
Izzy and I wandered around the park together, chatting with friends, frequenting every last bouncehouse, eating disgusting Lion’s Club hotdogs, and dodging the sweaty drunk people. After it began to rain, we went home to wait for Daddy to come home and grill up our own batch of superior Hebrew National franks.
Izzy had fuzzy memories of the fireworks when she was 2, and we tried our best to explain what “The Show” would be like. Also, we weren’t certain that there would be a fireworks show, thanks to the weather. At the time, we lived in our old house, which was directly across the street from a ballfield and a fantastic annual fireworks delay. Every year we arranged lawnchairs into our backyard, enjoyed a clear view of the magnificent fireworks, and avoided the hellish post-party traffic jam. It was lovely.
We lit a fire in the outdoor firepit, bundled up in blankets, and waited. It felt like we were waiting to see if Santa would show up. Izzy, with her 3-year old wisdom, kept affirming, “You never know if there will be fireworks! Sometimes the fireworks come, and sometimes they don’t!” She continued her pep-talk as we snuggled on the back patio, our eyes glued to the sky.
And the fireworks came. There are very few experiences that compare to the wonder of a preschooler watching her first fireworks show. The chilly weather added to the anticipation and thrilling ambience, and it was one of my favorite fireworks shows EVER.
Note: Although my daughter was enthralled by the fireworks, she is still quite sensitive and is pictured in the bottom right corner wearing headphones to block the noise.
On a somewhat sad note, the fireworks shows have been cancelled for the past two years in Colorado due to the rampant forest fires. The lack of entertainment is clearly a small price to pay.
Oh, and one more thing! Next Thursday IS the 4th of July, and we will NOT be having Finish the Sentence Friday.
HEY PEOPLE WHO ARE ONLY SKIMMING THIS POST! DID YOU CATCH THAT? THERE WILL BE NO FTSF NEXT WEEK!!! We will catch you on July 11th, at 10 PM EST, and throughout the next day, and the sentence to finish will be, “If I could go back and do something over, it would be…” See you then!
Welcome Back to Finish the Sentence Friday!
Your hosts:
Me from Mommy, for Real
Janine from Janine’s Confessions of a Mommyaholic
Kate from Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine?
Dawn from Dawn’s Disaster
- Follow Your Hosts, If You Like, and Anyone Else You Find On the List!
- Make Sure to Read and Comment on at Least Two Other Posts.
- Share Your Favorites on Facebook and/or Twitter Using the Hashtag #FTSF.
- Link Up Your Posts Below with This Week’s Sentence Prompt.
- Hop around and have fun!
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Next week’s sentence is: “If I could go back and do something over, it would be…”
Oh, Izzy was so adorable with those pigtails and sounded truly like wonderful experience and have yet to have that yet with my girls, because even though Emma was old enough last year, Lily really wasn’t, so I am hoping to get that experience this year out!!
You reminded me why I cannot remember any July 4ths (?) from my early twenties. Ah, beer. I apologize to your younger self but I had to laugh about a bunch of kids crying because they were sure their parents were going to jail for illegal fireworks.
Stephanie!! My FTSF post opens with pics of me, from 1983/1984, in a neighborhood parade, in hideous 80s clothing!! I think we are like long-lost twins or something… and yes, we also thought we were in the Macy’s parade, when really it lasted about 10 minutes and 17 people watched it.
My daughter is 7 and this will be her first time seeing fireworks – I love the pic of your daughter with headphones….. my daughter is requesting earplugs.
May have to post my FTSF now… It just feels weird to post a FRIDAY post on Thursday…. but it’s Friday somewhere, right????
You really got into the 4th! It looks like you always found a way to make it fun. I wish I had thought of headphones for my son when he was younger. He always hated fireworks and I am sure it was because of the sound. He is 18 and still doesn’t really care for them. It’s probably due to the childhood experience.
love how you all got into the 4th…a parade is such a cute idea…what a smart girl you have!!!!
I don’t have much memories of past 4th celebrations!!..I’m so bad.
“…HEY PEOPLE WHO ARE ONLY SKIMMING THIS POST! DID YOU CATCH THAT? THERE WILL BE NO FTSF NEXT WEEK!!!”
lol damn! (hey, I’ve got a good esplanation…!)…I was trying to skim, cause I don’t like to read anyone’s Posts before I write mine, otherwise I get all, ‘shit! I ain’t never gonna write to this level…’
but you did catch me.
I’ll be back with a proper comment after I finish banging my head against the wall (trying to come up with a ‘sentence finish’)
I cannot believe you tease us with early 90s Family Reunion 4th in matching t-shirts and then not provide us with a picture!! HARSH, Stephanie!! But your 1983 parade pictures are the best! Is your brother wearing suspenders with his floppy hat?! 🙂
I LOVE that Izzy was the firework pep talk giver as you waited to see if there would be fireworks on your best 4th. How adorable!!
(I also cracked up as you repeated the FTSF announcement for blog skimmers. Bwahahahaha!) –Lisa
I bet you never thought THAT would be your best 4th of July ever back when you were 18 🙂 Having kids around makes everything a bit more shiny and new- so fun!
I think these are my favorite Izzy pictures ever. And I want to read that story! Is it wrong just to want a daughter so that I can put pigtails on her?
Stephanie. Once again – magical and amazing story-telling. I love the imagery of you as a young girl choosing your outfits in advance and wearing Fourth of July ribbons in your hair. The epic Macy’s-like parades, then and now. Just awesome, friend. Truly. You are so so right that not much compares to a pre-schooler watching fireworks. I’m already excited to do so on Thursday, when Tucker will turn four (four??? where did the years go, anyway?).
XO
PS – who would dare to EVER skim you? Dummies.
great ‘Sentence Finish’,
good Fourth of July (2010)…great Fourth of July (1999)
have a (somewhere between good and great) 4th 2013
You sound like the Fourth of July queen. I should take some ideas from you. I’ve always had trouble with this holiday as I’m not big on fireworks. Last year, hubby, kids and I went to Hoboken to see the fireworks over the Hudson river. It was very pretty, but by the time they ran I was so tired I couldn’t properly appreciate them.
The 4th never really was celebrated in a big way in my house so I don’t have traditions, though after reading all these posts, I’m wishing I did!
Bwahahahahahah @ your 1999!
I have some treasured memories of being a child at Guy Fawkes night, wrapped up and watching fireworks. Course, it was November then and flippin’ cold, but fireworky and sparkly nonetheless 🙂
Loved your little walk down memory lane. I love holidays and traditions too – especially now that I have young kids. And since I’m clicking on your site for the first time from Bloppy’s, I’m excited to learn about this Finish the Sentence activity. I’ll be back!
This is great and I LOVE the parade story that you had published in your book – awesome! Your side notes in parentheses were cracking me up! And then at the end getting the skimmer’s attention – hilarious! Great post and loved seeing the pictures! And my 7yo STILL wears the noise-reduction headphones.
Okay, I swear I’m linking up to this before the summer is over. I don’t know why I can’t get my crap together and just do it!
I loved reading about the holiday through the kids’ eyes; be they yours years back, or your daughters’, there’s nothing more heartwarming than experiencing life like a toddler/preschooler. They just put the awwww back in awesome 😉
I love nostalgia, tradition and best evers, planning your outfit in advance and reasons for celebration. I love how masterfully you can write about light subjects. This was hilarious and heart warming and it made me regret never sharing fireworks with Ben. Maybe I’ll start this year. Great job, as always, and I will miss FTSF next week. xo