Independence Day

That’s right, ladies and gentleman…its time to uncork the bud-light, turn up the Toby Keith, and blow shit up. The all-American holiday is back! uhh! Yeah! In your FACE commies! It is, without a doubt, every American’s favorite holiday…because if there’s one thing we enjoy celebrating more than our wealth, rides, costly insurance plans, and entertainment industry, it’s the simple fact that we’re Americans. Mmm-mmM! Gimmie some of that sweet apple pie…

When I was younger it was always my favorite holiday, even above Christmas. There was just something magical about it. Perhaps because it was the only major summer holiday, perhaps because the tradition included a full day and night of interesting and exciting social activities, but for whatever reason I always regarded it as the most romantic holiday of the year. There is a certain sense of empowerment that comes from celebrating being the best in the world, which mixes well with the languid night air and thundering fireworks. That vain good-time social energy that seems to rise up and sizzle beneath the skin, juxtaposed against the cool starlight and carelessly rustling tree-tops, is a sweet emotional cocktail unlike any other. Yes, the fourth of July was always the one day that I enjoyed celebrating being a member of the human race. My claim to empathetic-fame regarding the thrill of pack mentality, and the flavor of holding a crowd in the palm of your hand. The memories and atmospheric delicacies are too numerous to mention, and the particularly lovely ones can carry their own gravity in other entries, beyond the simple scope of the holiday itself. Lots of stars, happiness, friends, young ladies, and firecrackers.

These days I just duck the crowds and hide out. There’s really nothing special about it as an adult, as utter carelessness in all things was a vital part of the thrill…but like so many things that are torn from our hands as we sail forward in time, I only truly lament it now because of what I knew at the time. Laying in the grass at the age of fourteen, young girl on my arm, listening to the band play…I knew then that the unprecedented thrill I was experiencing was only due to the fact that it wouldn’t last beyond youth.