Happy Fourth of July! (aka Sparklers on the Fourth Part 4)

Today is July 4th. It's also called the Fourth of July. It's a holiday that has always held a special place in my heart--not only for its historical significance, but also because of all the great memories I have from Fourth of July celebrations of the past (especially from when I was a kid). This post is mainly meant to put out some past pieces I've written that have been related to the holiday, but there are also a few thoughts that I'd like to add too.

I've only written directly about this holiday three times before, and the posts have always had "Sparklers on the Fourth" as part of their titles. Hence the "aka" title of this one. The first two were way back in 2011 when I wrote about a memory I had from a Fourth of July celebration from my youth. That one was simply called "Sparklers on the Fourth of July!". After researching and writing that one I realized that my childhood memories were actually faulty and not quite historically accurate. It was a good lesson to learn and I was able to kind of make a new connection between my distant memories and reality. As a result I wrote "Sparklers on the Fourth: Upon Further Review" to kind of admit my mistake and set the record straight. The holiday didn't really make another appearance here until last year when I wrote what I suppose was the third installment of the "series", "Sparklers on the Fourth of July: The Next Generation". That one was written as a part of my attempt to get back into actively writing after a long stretch of inactivity. It was also a way to kind of get back to the roots of what I intended Monster Dad to be when it started--something akin to a "Mommy Blog" where I would write about the experience of being a stay-at-home dad trying to instill some of my love of old monster movies and such in the kids. While there have indeed been numerous such posts, I do tend to write more about MY own childhood memories and stuff like that. In that blog I was finally able to share news about The Little Monsters enjoying sparklers on the Fourth of July--just as I did as a kid way back when.

While the main point of this post was to put out the above list of previous July 4th blogs, I would also like to write a little more about the holiday and about today itself. I mentioned having many fond memories of past Fourth of July celebrations. But to be honest I don't really have a LOT of individual memories of those childhood celebrations. Instead it seems a bit more accurate to say that I have a kind of general feeling of what it was like to commemorate the 4th when I was a kid--and that general feeling is very good. I Recently wrote a similar account of my feelings about and memories of Memorial Day. Memorial Day was always special to me as a kid too. But, while it was a great time to have a three-day weekend as the weather was getting summer-like and we were nearing the end of the school year, there still WAS school that had to be attended for another few weeks. The Fourth of July occurs pretty close to the beginning of summer vacation (from school). So it really kind of felt like a huge celebration to welcome the true arrival of summer and all the wonderful and exciting possibilities that came with it. It was so close to the end of the school year that there was still a relatively long time before going back to school in September. Plenty of summer fun to be had! I think that has something to do with that "general overall feeling" about July 4th for me rather than a list of concrete memories.

I believe that The Little Monsters are big fans of July 4th, but am not really sure if it carries the same sentimental weight for them that it does for me. Perhaps that's something that develops later in life when childhood and all the magic associated with it starts to fade into the past. We (or at least I) tend to look back on those seemingly less complicated and simpler times and pine for "the good old days".

But every year the Fourth of July still rolls around, and we are given another chance to enjoy the holiday and create new memories. I think I'll finish this post with the most up to date information I can offer--what we're doing THIS Fourth of July. On Tuesday, the 2nd of July, we went into Boston to check out the Boston Harbor fireworks show (which we didn't realize also includes a boat parade on the harbor!). The photo at the top of this post is from that show. I believe this has been going on for many years, but it was our first time attending it. The Boston Pops orchestra puts on a VERY well-known concert on the Boston Esplanade every July 4th that concludes with a huge fireworks show over the Charles River. We've NEVER attended this show (as the crowds are gigantic and pretty daunting). But a couple years ago The Wife and I did attend the slightly less heavily attended rehearsal concert that they put on the night before the big show. It includes all of the concert elements of the show on the 4th, minus the fireworks. We went again last night. And today we are at The In-Laws' to celebrate the Fourth with family. We went to a very old-fashioned parade at a small town nearby, had hamburgers and BBQ chicken for lunch and dinner, and now are finishing up the holiday by watching the actual Boston Pops show live on TV, having a fire in the back yard, eating s'mores and letting the Little Monsters run around with, yes, Sparklers on the Fourth of July! Here's a few pics from the day...

Sparklers on the Fourth of July!