An Independence Day diatribe

I've had a lot of great Fourths of July. This year's was relatively calm. We tailgated at the Cubs/Nats game in the morning, watched the Cubs get absolutely blown away in the afternoon, and headed back to the house with the best of intentions of heading back into DC for the fireworks but never went.

Chad has come down with a cold and took his first sick day in years today (he's paranoid that everyone in his office will think he's hungover but the joke would be on them if he went in today and infected everyone). So, while trying to nurse my sickly husband back from the dead last night, I got to thinking of my top July 4th memories of all time. Among them:

• Getting to eat orange push-up pops while watching the fireworks in the front yard at home. This was a BIG deal--we never got to get push-up pops at the store! I don't remember Daniel or Janice being there so this must have been ages ago. That, or I just blocked them out of my mind.
• Watching the fireworks in Boston on tour where somehow we found ourselves on the roof of a townhouse overlooking the fireworks literally a stone's throw away and listening to the Boston Pops play patriotic music in rhythm with the show.
• Going to the Knoxville Park with grandma and grandpa where we'd head into the old one-room schoolhouse for ice cream and pie (I almost always inadvertently ended up with something that had rhubarb in it, where my distaste for that probably stems) before playing on the swings, listening to the band and settling down for fireworks once it got dark. RT always covered her ears when she saw the bright flashes because that meant the big "booms" were not far behind.
• Sitting on a hayrack right outside the hog lot trying to point out as many fireworks displays as we could from surrounding towns. I think we made it to at least 10.
• My first 4th of July in DC at the Georgetown waterfront. A hot, muggy day. I remember being jealous of all the people watching the show from their big boats on the Potomac. Then a few years later, mom was here and we watched on the roof of NRF. Last year, Daniel and Holly were here and we watched on the NRF roof. Even though I've done it several times now, watching the fireworks over the Washington Monument really never gets old.
• July 4 events at Lakelawn where we got to dive in the deep end for change. I used to stay down there as long as possible to stuff my fists with quarters. By the time I got up to the top, I had a few bucks to my name and was absolutely gasping for breath. (Side note: this was in the days before everyone went lawsuit-crazy. Something like this would just never fly today.)