Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! This was the first Independence Day in ten years that I’ve spent out of North Carolina and away from the fireworks show put on by Havelock, and I’m glad I got to spend it with family because I’d have been even more homesick than I was if I hadn’t. For some reason today I really, really missed home. I missed sitting with my family on a blanket, playing Mindtrap and telling jokes while waiting for the sun to set so the show could begin.

Around noon today, Darren, Kim and I headed over to Summerville to have lunch with Marcel, his wife Gina, and their three children, Ethan, Bella, and Alex. Bella (I think she was four months old) was so beautiful! Both Darren and Kim held her for a while, and her every coo, giggle, yawn, and burp earned our undivided and eager attention. Ethan flattered me by vying for my attention for a good part of the day. The five of us non-kids were chatting in the living room, and then Ethan came up to me and literally dragged me off upstairs to his room. There, he and I played trains and then had a tea party followed by a picnic, and then Gina came up to check on us to make sure the boys (Alex was watching animal planet in the same room) weren’t holding me hostage or anything. After assuring her that all was well, I continued my picnic with Ethan while Alex told me about the program he was watching – a special on creepy-crawlies of the Australian Outback. I learned that his ideal pet would be a scorpion (over my dead body), and that I was an adult. It was so weird to be called an adult; I’ve never thought of myself as such, nor considered myself mature enough to be so called, but I guess to a seven-year-old (I think), a 5 and ½ foot, 21-year old must seem ancient! After I returned downstairs, Alex a dead weight on my right leg, Ethan flattered me even more by selecting me to help him put together his puzzles. I have very little experience with children, but apparently I’m a kid magnet (Gina’s words, not mine). Anyway, the time I spent with Alex and Ethan was a tremendous boost to my self-esteem, which has been lagging behind of late.

After returning home, the three of us took a bit of a breather. I went outside when it became dark and watched what I could of the fireworks going off around the house. If I closed my eyes I could see them, a riot of color on the inky sky, but with my eyes open seeing them was a little harder. I did get to see some good ones, especially the ones lit by our neighbors just yards away. Sitting there on that stoop, though, I was consumed by the enormous urge to smoke a cigarette. That’s crazy because I don’t even smoke, and have never smoked, but I really wanted to light one up then. Maybe I was just acting on the impulse to light something brought about by sitting in the midst of all those mini-explosions, and maybe it was because I kinda like the smell of cigarette smoke. Whatever the cause, I really wanted to light one up, but I didn’t. I had a margarita instead. Mmmmm.