A Perfect Fourth...

Boy, who was I kidding today?

I'm writing this at 11:00 p.m. on the Fourth of July.  The day started with rain, so this morning our town of Summit, N.J. posted online that the fireworks would be held tomorrow night instead.

"I don't care," I said to myself.  "Barry's working tonight anyway.  Plus, I've seen fireworks plenty of times already."

So, I cooked some burgers on the stove for our lunch this afternoon, instead of grilling, because of the rain.  Then at 3:00 I kissed my husband goodbye as he went out the door, and noticed the rain had stopped and the sun was actually coming out.

I wondered if there'd be fireworks after all...

After I went back inside I forgot about the Fourth again.  I did some housework and listened to the kids next door laughing (and bickering) as they played softball out front. But, gradually I started to notice that smell - that wonderful smell - of grills going and I heard some music playing.

Oh, yeah.  It IS the Fourth...

But, hey... who cares?  Right?

So, a few hours ago I settled in and turned on the TV to watch "Shark Tank." As I flipped around the channels during commercial, I saw the Grucci fireworks in NYC were going to be on at 9 p.m.

"Fine," I thought. "Shark Tank ends then."  But, with just a few minutes left in the show, and as I started to pick up the flicker - something happened.  I heard HUGE muffled booms coming from outside! The only sound like that could be...

Our town's FIREWORKS!!!

I RAN up the stairs hoping against hope... and yes!!  I had a small view of the fireworks from my bedroom window!

A room with a view...

Heaven...

What IS it about fireworks?  I leaned on the windowsill, next to our cat Calleigh, smiling from ear to ear.  Everything suddenly seemed more beautiful.

Really.  It all did.

I noticed the trees swaying gently from a cool wind in the night air.  I watched fireflies blinking below. I just felt... well, I felt the same way I do every Fourth of July - like a ten year-old kid.

I took it all in - the trees, the fireflies and the color and light bursting over the treetops.  My cheeks began to hurt from my grin.  Then, as always, the finale arrived. You can always tell the finale, even through an upstairs window a mile away.  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Poor Calleigh jumped from the window.

Scaredy cat.

It was only about 9:20 now, so I went back to the downstairs TV to watch the Grucci's fireworks. (Love the Grucci's.  They used to do the fireworks 'down the shore' in the town next to where we lived. Thought they were from Jersey... but, I just looked it up and they're Long Islanders.  Well, no one's perfect.)

I could still hear sounds of our neighboring towns' fireworks, so I muted the sound of the country bands playing on NBC.  Who needs music playing?  I LOVE the throaty booms that only come from real fireworks!

On our TV.  Hurray for High Def!

All-in-all... it ended up being a pretty perfect night.

Note to my adult self... NEVER, ever again say, or pretend, that fireworks don't matter. My inner ten year-old disagrees.

Fireworks will ALWAYS matter.