Fireworks

I was on the phone with our oldest, discussing the long weekend, when BOOM! and I knew the local fireworks display had begun. We hung up and my husband and I went outside, along with all the neighbors, to watch a marvelous display.
Since we had an inch of rain this afternoon the air was clear and it felt almost cool (not really a possibility in north Texas this time of year, but you can pretend). The city set the fireworks off at the park, 3 blocks down the street from our house, so it was very loud. They shot up right at the end of the street, over the houses and between the trees. Robert and I reminisced about seeing them (separately) at Meyerland Plaza in Houston eons ago. My grandparents took me, my brothers, and sometimes our cousins. Robert went with his family. I don't know if they still have a display there anymore. For years it was a really rundown place but in recent years it has been rebuilt. Robert and I never met until high school, but we wonder....did we ever talk at Meyerland on the 4th of July?
When we lived in Austin we took the canoe out on Town Lake to watch the fireworks and listen to the symphony. I was hugely pregnant with our 3rd child, and the boys were 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 years old. When the cannon went off during the Souza piece 'Stars and Stripes Forever' the oldest panicked, and we almost overturned in the dark on the lake! Fortunately the fireworks started and he became engrossed in the display of bright lights overhead. A moment we'll never forget.
Last summer I was in Charleston, SC, on the 4th. Mom and I had gone to visit Grace, who has joined the Navy. We watched as the fireworks lit up the harbor where the first shots of our Civil War were fired.
Tomorrow I am leaving for Washington, DC, another historic place. I plan to visit The Wall and Arlington National Cemetery, then take part in CODEPINK's Troops Home Fast on Saturday. I want the President to know that although my daughter serves her country, and I support her, I believe he made the wrong decision and we need to bring the troops home.
Sunday I will be going to a week-long National Geographic Institute . Busy, busy, busy. Hopefully I'll have time to write while I'm in DC
later,
geographylady