A Traditional July 4th.

My Mom didn't like going anywhere fun. That was my big complaint about her while growing up. Picnics at the park, days at the beach, bike rides on the bay, all of those things so easy to enjoy, but Mom would have none of that. And no amount of begging could convince her to take us kids anywhere fun. Included in this was our celebration of Independence Day. Every year, I'd beg her to take us to see the fireworks. And every year she said no. We could hear fireworks from our beds, and it was so tantalizing to me. But, fireworks was not something mom cared to see. And she didn't understand why we needed to see them. She did, however, give us our own tradition for July 4th.

At dusk, instead of having to be inside, as was the usual rule, Mom would give each of us kids a big slice of seedy watermelon and have us sit at the curbing. Then she'd get a road flare, light it, and put it in the street about 4 or 5 feet away from where we sat. We'd get to watch the flare burn and we would compete to see who could spit the most watermelon seeds into the flame. Then the flare would burn out, and in the twilight, we'd look up and see the Good Year blimp, with lots of blinking colored lights fly overhead, and soon after the blimp's appearance we'd hear the far-away sounds of fireworks starting up. Mom would then reappear on the scene and usher us all inside and off to bed. I swore when I grew up that my own kid would get to see fireworks.





We re-enacted the Traditional Independence Day celebration one year, just to show Carl and Craig how lame it was. And you know what? It was actually kind of fun, for me at least. Nostalgia has a way of softening bad memories sometimes. The big difference between then and now? The watermelons don't have seeds anymore.