I love this season! It is a reminder to old and young exactly what America stands for. We need this reminder more now than any other time in modern history. I will see my 50th celebration this 4th of July and like any other big kid, I will ooh and ahh as the fireworks fill the sky with color, sounds booming and crackling, the sulfur smell filling the air. I will cry when the Star Spangled Banner is played and I will remember who is missing from this year’s festivities. I will stop and say a silent prayer for those who are fighting to keep our country and fellow countries from suffering the fate of the war mongers who threaten us all. I will feel with a Mother’s Heart the losses and the excitement of those who came home safely. Never before will a celebration mean more to so many than this year’s festivities. It stands for freedom and unity. It also stands for another family get together!

I know exactly how the day will go. I will wake up and see some of my newest birthday presents and put my cards away with the bazillions of others I have saved all my life. I will then go check my part of the buffet dinner / picnic and while I wait for my first cup of coffee. I will make mental notes for the day and forget half before the day is over!  I’ll call my Mom to double check on what is needed for dinner and find out who will be there so I bring enough. Then I will sweat! It is so hot in my little kitchen that only the orchids - which fill every inch of my garden window - love it. I will play "Beat the Thermometer!" How much can I get done before the heat really hits?

I’ll check my email while eggs boil or veggies drain dry and wish I didn’t have the fruit bowl to do. (Silently, I thank and praise the inventor of Cool Whip too!) Of course, I will eat bunches of fruit while I chop away! Note to self: Buy seedless grapes next time! It’s now 75 degrees at 10 a.m.

Once the food is almost ready, I will set aside towels for the baked beans to be wrapped in, bowls and lids for the rest. I will hit the shower and change my mind twice on what to wear. The phone will ring at least 10 times before I am dressed and my husband will bring it to me in the bathroom to answer even though I have been telling him for 23 years to stop that and answer it himself! (Cops is on for the countless time and he is into it... ugh!) I’ll juggle the phone and dodge two feet of wet hair, then lose the phone a couple of times while I rummage through my clothes and make-up and where is my red, white, and blue pony tail holder?

Then I will sit on my bed in front of the fan. It’s pushing 80 degrees outside. I slap on some make-up I know will sweat off anyway. Thankfully, I am not getting myself and four kids and the hubby ready to go anymore! Those were the days though. Hectic but good times. Now they are all grown with kids of their own. Note to self: Next year I cook nothing. The kids can do it. Only cool foods for me from now on...

The food is ready. My pets are fed and watered. My husband is picking out CDs no one likes but him, well for the most part... Then he will fill the cooler with sodas and water...No? No room for the water. Note to self: get my own cooler! Then he will dust off the fine layer of dust on the truck, load the back, and wipe off any fingerprints. You’d think he was cleaning away a crime scene! Oh yeah, the ever ready boom box that is not ready... why would I have 10 D cell batteries?

I am sweating my butt off and have been ready about an hour. It’s 90 degrees outside and the A/C kicked on in the house. After he dinks around another 20 minutes, he will have the nerve to ask if I want the windows up or down? Duh... I am hot and surrounded by hot foods to keep hot and cool foods to keep cool and a couple of bottles of water that are neither. If that is not nerve enough, he always says it is me that has us running late! I eye a rolled up newspaper... and his nose! Lucky for him, he is finally driving.

Finally, we make the 20 minute trek to my mom’s. The mountain right behind her place is where our local fireworks are done each year so we have a front row, fenced in seat! Her place is too warm inside but the breeze is always nice out under the big trees in back where we all pick our spot to sit for the night.

The guys will BBQ meat and then pat themselves on the back for the great dinner they made and ooh and ahh over each other’s cars and trucks. "Man, that is some kinda wax! Whatcha’ using on it these days?" Of course, they will go into every commercial mode possible! It’s a truck! Trucks get dirty for crying out loud. What is it that is so fascinating under the hood and why does it have to look showroom clean?

We girls chatter about anything and everything. Kids run about. Finally, it is time for the fireworks show! The hectic pace of the day is forgotten. The food was good. The company is great. Kids are amped up or falling asleep... but I am so ready for the sky to light up!

This year my mom has new neighbors from Russia! They are red white and blue all year but more so as this day came closer... but painting all the trim of their place "patriotic" was a bit much! They are what America is all about and they came here for the same reason many of our ancestors did. I think it’s very cute that they call mom’s yucca tree a palm. They sure love palm trees! It’s a California thing for sure. Gotta love that new American spirit! I feel kind of lucky to see a glimpse of the past in these new citizens. They are so happy here! Imagine the days of so many people learning English at once? Must have been a hoot! Imagine their pot luck dinners!

I love the 4th of July! God bless America and all those who make it a free place to live! Have a happy, healthy, and safe celebration of America and everything that makes Her great! :)