Independence Day
Happy July 4th, a couple of days early! This is by far my favorite holiday all year, next in line to Halloween, then St. Patrick's Day, and in that order. They are the over looked holidays. The ones that don't require alot of planning that included grumpy family members, or well planned meals. Instead, these favorite holidays of mine are mostly about drinking with friends, eating either burned hotdogs or too much candy, and no long lines at the shopping mall. July 4th in Texas was always such a big deal when I was growing up. Everyone was at the lake, again, drinking, grillin'. There were things to blow up with bottle rockets, and like all good holiday get togethers, most people were passed out at the end of the evening. Most of my July 4 celebrations have been spent singing somewhere, local town celebreation, a rodeo, someone's back yard, or working. I don't miss that aspect of my radio career. I can have the holiday off like everyone else, not to have to emcee some event and have to remain even half way sober so as not to yell out things "that's cool as shit man" on the mic when the big fireworks start. Julia and I have plans for this holiday as well, and they will be a year to remember. So far, it's free booze, hot guitar players, and plenty of people on sunset cruise. Somehow, the statement about it being a year to remember may prove to be untrue, depending on the amount of booze, I mean, patriotic spirit we participate in!! I don't know if this year will compete with the year we discovered that wearing 3-d glasses to watch fireworks with is something like being on drugs (not that I really know that feeling, but it's still cool as shit, man) and there are pictures of my family all running around, including my grandparents, in hot pink 3-d glasses. That year will be hard to beat.
I'm heading into this holiday weekend, quiet sad, even though it looks to be a blast. This is the one holiday I like being around the people I love. Christmas, people are bitchy, Thanksgiving, everyone's worried about Christmas, Easter, we've all been to church all morning, and we're feeling pretty guilty for all the pain we caused our Lord and Savior. But on July 4th, I want to watching the fireworks with someone I love. There's been a couple of good years that I've gotten to do that, and I've become a bit spoiled because of it. I want to see the nieces and eat potato salad my grandmother has made, and all be yelling at the kids not to "put an eye out with that firecracker. "It's been years since a scene like that has occurred in my life. I doubt that it will ever again be much like that. I sat in a bar last night, thinking about it, and wondered again if the death of my little brother changed us all so much that we can't be together like that without thinking of him, that my other brothers and I haven't really spoken since the funeral, not being able to look at each other without again, a reminder, or if it's just our stubborn selves, all of us, for blaming the hurt on those who are hurting as well. I don't' have the answer. If I did, we'd all be sitting around eating pototo salad. But for me, with the recent new beginning in my life, with a chance to start a life without memories on every turn, I hope this year will finally be an Independence Day, that in this new life, where being on an island tends to make people relax some, that maybe I can be free to enjoy the holiday once again, and start new memories.