by Writerbob

Created on: May 20, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

In 1984, there were two certainties in my life: I was going nowhere, and I was getting there extremely fast.
I had reached this state of affairs through a string of broken relationships, poor career choices, and erratic academic work. Enter my younger sister who, having recently relocated to Panama City, Florida, invited me to spend a summer with her to get my priorities straightened out. This was how I found myself on the Fourth of July that year walking to the marina to watch the firework festivities.

I had arrived early and had found a comfortable spot on the lawn to place my blanket on. Next to me there was a couple that seemed to be uneasy, this apparent because of the stone silence between them. Nightfall came, the crowd, which numbered over a thousand, was buzzing with anticipation, but as the minutes went by there were no explosions lighting up the sky. Being a patient man, I used the time to survey the sights around me, not the least of which was the lovely female half of the tense pair beside me.Her male companion was by now getting agitated, making multiple trips to the beer stand, which caused her to bury her face in her hands.

Word circulated through the crowd that it would be yet another fifteen minutes until the display would start, making this almost ninety minutes past schedule. By now, I had exchanged a few introductory looks with the dazzling young lady a few feet from me and sensed that my attentions were not entirely unwanted. Then entered fate: her companion came back and demanded that the two of them leave, as many others were, since the show was going to be so late. She refused, much to his anger, and after several sharp words he left in disgust.

It was only minutes afterward that the first flare pierced the air, to a great outburst of cheering from the troopers like us who had stayed. Whatever troubles I had brought to the marina that night were nowhere near me during that spectacular half-hour. I turned to my now-solo companion and exchanged a few words of shared joy at the display, and to my surprise she countered with her own. As the finale came and went, we both went about folding our blankets, and I ventured the courage to ask her for coffee, and the surprises continued - she accepted!

Three months later, we said our vows - a relationship born of the simple beauty of celebrating America's birthday, one that I will never forget!

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