The 4th

When I was young I loved fireworks. I would go with my parents, we would get a picnic together, a big blanket and lots of bug spray and go to some park in the middle of nowhere and wait for dusk. They were great displays, huge bursts of color like falling glitter, I loved it.

When I was a teen I would go with a group of friends, we would pick just the right outfit and head out to the park. We would people watch mostly, scan the crowd for cute boys and then when dusk came we would make up words to describe the beauty of the display.

Now as an adult, living in a city, near a park and in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood I get fireworks for about a week, preceding and following the fourth of July. Both last night and tonight are full on productions, on all four sides of me. It started about 8.00 pm and it is still going pretty strong at 10.15pm. I watch from my window or walk a block to the edge of the park.

What scares the crap out of me are all the firecrackers, bottle rockets and other really loud booms that will go on for at least another week.

From a distance and high in the sky I love the falling colored glitter, but, I hate the bombs going off fifteen feet below my window at midnight that set all the car alarms off in a four block radius.

The odd part, my rabbit doesn’t flinch, not once, in fact most of tonight he has been asleep in his box. Deafness is prominent in male lops, I should look into that.

One last note, if you don't know the song 4th of July by X you should check it out. I love that song and I've been singing it all day in my head.