It's a long way down the holiday road

We're going up to Vermont this weekend to stay at a lodge on a lake (on a bump on a log in a hole in the bottom of the sea) with KB's stepfather Alan and his wife Kathleen. There will also be assorted other family members there - KB's sister and her husband are flying out from Hawaii, and Alan's kids and Kathleen's kids and THEIR kids are coming too. I think there'll be 24 people in all. So I'm looking forward to a crazy family weekend of lake shore goodness.

But there will no posts, no posts! I say, for several days. We're actually coming back on the 4th, so I don't know if we'll be seeing any fireworks or not, which makes me kind of sad. I like the big boom boom and sparkly flashyness.

I've had a couple of memorable 4ths, in terms of fireworks and celebrating. The year I did summer theater at UW we sat up on the roof of the theater building and watched the fireworks at War Memorial Stadium, which is like, a block away. We were so close to the fireworks that we were getting little bits of paper and ash raining down on us. We were so close that the only comments anyone could make were "Wow!" and "WOW!" We were so close that I was concerned that perhaps we were TOO close. But it was really cool.

Another time I was visiting Zach in SF and we sat up (illegally, I believe) on the roof of his apartment building to watch the fireworks out in the bay. When they were over (and they, also, were damn fine fireworks) was the best part. There were hundreds of other people also sitting on roofs watching, and somewhere behind us, just as the last lights from the finale were fading, someone with a fabulous tenor voice started to sing the National Anthem. By the time he got to "by the dawn's early light" everyone else on all the rooftops was singing along with him. When we all yelled "and the hooooome of theeeeee braaaaaaaaave," everyone erupted into cheers. It was the single best time I've ever sung the National Anthem, because it was totally spontaneous and filled with feeling. It made me think of how great our country could be.

So everybody have a happy, safe 4th of July weekend and try to think of a way to wrest our fabulous country out of the hands of the Frowny Kid and his evildoing cohorts. The USA deserves better.

Thanks for reading.