The "BORE"th of July (A Brief History Lesson)

The 4th of July was always a pretty big deal in my family.  Growing up we had a ton of fun doing things like setting off illegal fireworks in my grandparents' backyard and bringing a wagon full of picnic food and cold beverages down to the waterfront to watch the stunning pyrotechnics put on by the city.  Sometimes we went camping, sometimes we had a big BBQ in the park...whatever we did, there were a LOT of us and it was awesome.  Fast forward to my first Independence Day that I was actually independent of my family and that's where it gets ugly.  I just had a series of awful, horribly lonely, painfully boring 4th of July's...one. year. after. the. other.  Ugh!  The first actual "BORE"th of July (to be called by that name) though, was in the summer of 2005.

It was in Lynchburg, VA.  When you're in a college town during the summer it is fairly desolate (or at least compared to the school year)  My friend Kirsten and I had just moved in to our town house off campus (our other roomies were not back yet!) and we were forced to find our own fun and have a "party for two" on this particular red, white, and blue day.  Let me just say...typically we weren't  too shabby at creating our own awesome fun, but for some reason we both had a case of the "grumpy" that day and we were finding it difficult to snap out of it.    I remember scouring the internet for something, anything, fun to do.  I came up with nothing.  We even got in my car and just decided to (literally) flip a coin and make right or left turns according to the will of the gods of "heads or tails"...I'm pretty sure that quickly lead us to a dead end (literally) in some neighborhood and we went back home grumpier than when we had started.  Upon more searching and refusal to let this be a fourth of July flop, I discovered there was a fireworks display at Smith Mountain Lake (a little bit of a drive, but worth it in our eyes...we needed a pick me up!)  So off we went.  We even made a totally sweet "BORE"th of July CD compilation which included the "Star Spangled Banner" by Kiss (heck yes.) and a reading of the Declaration of Independence set to patriotic music to get us really fired up!  (Oh, and don't forget Lee Greenwood's classic..."Proud to Be an American")  It was great.  We were getting pumped up against all odds.  The closer we got to the lake though, we realized "it looks a little deserted...where IS everyone??"  We stopped at a little welcome center for the state park and I hopped out to ask where the fireworks were going to be...get this..."The fireworks were yesterday, ma'am."

...........................................................Wait.  WHAT?  Who has fireworks on July THIRD??  It like, hey...lets celebrate dependence by doing stuff on the day PRIOR to our declaring independence!!  HOORAY DEPENDENCE DAY!!  Let Slavery Ring!!...you get my point.*

I started to chuckle maniacally and slowly walked out to the car where an anxious Kirsten awaited.  I then screamed and yelled and drove off honking my horn and cursing the most BORING holiday ever!!!  Oh...and then I got a speeding ticket in the state park.  By the time we made it back home we had decided in an effort to give this wretched day some kind of redeeming value we would go to the movies and see "Bewitched" with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell...but guess what??  We got lost and missed the movie show time.  AWESOME.

So, you see, I came to expect the humdrum-ness (and almost comical misfortune) of Independence Day.  I assumed that my future "4th's" would always be "BORE"th's...and I was right....for a while, anyway.  My husband hasn't had July 4th off in a really LONG time.  Mostly these holidays were spent lazing about...nothing to report, nothing exciting.  This year was a little bit of that (which, lets be honest...was a welcome treat for this pregnant lady) but then we went to a little celebration that our church was having.  There was music, bouncy houses for the kids, burgers and dogs...and...FIREWORKS! (No fireworks last year due to a statewide drought and burn ban!  Didn't want to catch ourselves on fire...) We brought our lawn chairs and sat in the heat and ate homemade ice cream to wash down our chili dogs.  I couldn't help but think "just like the good ol' days..." and although it was just the three of us and some church friends...it was great.  Just because my 4th of July's aren't as BIG as they used to be doesn't mean they can't be awesome.  Here's hoping that this is the first year of breaking the "BORE"th of July curse and embracing my little family while it is still little and our little holidays while they are not hectic.  Maybe someday Derek and I will be the crazy grandparents with all of the illegal fireworks for the young'ns :)  Just try and stop me, BOREth of July...I dare you!! 

My sweet boy having a cupcake with ultra patriotic blue frosting.  Also, cheetos dipped in ketchup.  Seriously.  What is it with kids and ketchup??  GROSS.

I love my family.  Aren't my fellas handsome??  Last 4th of July as a family of three...wowsers.

"Hi.  I'm cute."

The fireworks were loud, but so pretty! 

*ok fine...so 07/04/2005 was a Monday and the kind people of Smith Mountain Lake most likely assumed that more people would be there on a Sunday...but still.  The fourth is the fourth.  Clearly our founding fathers didn't say "Hey guys, you know what...lets switch this up a bit for "convenience" sake."  (and yes...I'm aware that if you want to be all "historically accurate" the actual declaration was drawn up before the 4th and wasn't even signed by everyone until sometime in like August or something...bla bla bla...whatever.  It's the 4th of July!!