by Melissa Bagley

Created on: May 21, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

The Fourth of July has always been on my list of favorites in the holidays. Truth be known, I can't think of a holiday I don't like and have memories attached to all of them that go back to when I was a kid. But the Fourth of July stands out because it is in the summer and the fireworks are so beautiful. I love fireworks! When I got married and had children it all became that much more special.

There is a place in our town, outside of the city, where the spillway from the lake is. There is a fence that keeps people out of harms' way, but you can see the water rushing down like a mini-waterfall. It isn't a long walk to it from the road, but it is very pretty. It has rock formations and beautiful flowers planted along the way. It is in this area that people from our town gather in droves to watch the fireworks from the little island out in the lake where they always shoot them off. There is this feeling out there on that day that just sort of wafts around like the smell of hot dogs cooking on grills. People don't honk their horns or push and shove in lines. Everyone is smiling and laughing with their families. You can see the teenagers start to congregate on the dam with their feet dangling off the rocks. To my knowledge, there never has been a fight or anything that would dampen the mood on this evening.

The memory that stands out in my mind the most is when the kids were still pretty young, but old enough to know what it was to go and buy fireworks at the stand. My parents were still alive and we always met each other at the corner of the entranceway. There is a huge rock and then some smaller ones after that in a line along the fence. We always meet in the same place every year to have our picnic. Mom brought her famous rost beef sandwiches and I brought the pickles, chips and the drinks. My parents lived in another town, so it was wonderful to sit around, eat and talk about what we had done since the last time we saw each other. My Dad and husband and son went off together for a little while to visit like "guys" and Mom and I watched the girls climbing on the rocks. We always got
there about six or so, way before the sunset so that we would have plenty of time for talking and eating. We all walked down together to see the spillway and it was really running this year. You could feel the spray of the water on your face and the sound was really loud. The kids were all jumping around on the fence watching the water crashing down the rocks below as the sun began to get a little lower in the sky.

The sunset that night was spectacular with orange, gold and pink streaks. I can see it now, with the rocks outlined in the distance. In a little while we got out our fireworks. The kids almost had as much fun shooting off their fireworks as they did watching the big ones. Other people started to follow suit. Pretty soon the whole place was full of fireworks just going off everywhere. We were laughing and clapping for the fireworks of people we hadn't seen very much or not at all. But it didn't matter. That moment, that time, we were all connected.

Eventually the real fireworks started and we were enthralled again by the colors and the sounds. Someone started to sing patriotic songs and then we all joined in. From all over the dam you could hear people singing "God Bless the U.S.A" and "God Bless America". At the finale we were in full swing singing the "Star Spangled Banner". That night our town, our county, became family to each other.

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