Memories of July 4th

I don't have that many memories of July 4th. You would think that my childhood growing up on military bases (mostly Marine) would highlight patriotic observances, but I do not remember any. That seems odd from my perspective of being 60 years old, so I thought I would try to recall any Independence Day celebrations I could:

• The one I remember most vividly is one I spent on the beach at Port Hueneme Naval Base in California when I was in high school visiting my long-time friend Nancy. Her family brought us to the beach for the fireworks display. It was fun, and I remember her younger brother (who is now a linguistics professor in Australia) running around--probably Nancy, her sister, and I were moving around, too.

• It used to be that you could see the fireworks from my parents' house in Bellingham, WA. I remember sitting alone on the couch, watching them when my mother was dying of pancreatic cancer. Little did I know that she would die only ten days later (in 1992).

• In 1979, when I was pregnant with our first baby, our neighborhood had a gathering at the local park, which we declined to attend--as I was very pregnant and it was so hot (like today)! My mother was visiting from WA, waiting for DC's arrival--and she wasn't used to the heat either. He was a week overdue and finally arrived on July 6.
  

• On a few occasions, we took our children down to the waterfront grassy areas here in Corpus Christi, TX with massive crowds of other people. It was always very hot and humid. . . and buggy. (There are over 200 varieties of mosquitoes, and all of them can be found here!) I mostly remember doing this with our two younger children. I wonder if they liked it. . . .

We are having a very quiet 4th of July. CB will grill chicken. Otherwise, we are staying in our nice, cool and air-conditioned house. (At 5 pm it is 94 degrees F. For my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, it is 100 degrees F. in Austin!)

I hope you are enjoying the 4th of July wherever you are!