Proud to be an American

Hello everyone! Can you believe it’s Thursday already?? It sure feels like Monday (or something?) over here. Anyway, first and foremost I wanted to thank you all for the kind wishes about my power being out and I wanted to let you all know that as of about 9:15 last night, it was restored! Thank goodness; five days without power was torture and it meant a lot to me that you all were thinking of me. But anyway, let’s rewind to yesterday morning so I can tell you all about my Fourth of July!

Yesterday morning started off nice and relaxing while I posted to the blog, caught up on some emails, and enjoyed half of a bagel from the bagel place near my dad’s house (yum!). At around 10:00, we piled into the car and headed over to my grandparent’s house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It’s about an hour away and located right on the Chesapeake Bay.

Hopefully that map helps clear things up geographically for ya

Anyway, we arrived at my grandparent’s house just in time for their annual Fourth of July community parade. All the kids in the neighborhood arrived at the clubhouse with decorated bikes, scooters, and golf carts in tow. Most of the kids were around my sister’s age (seven) and went all out decorating their “floats” for the parade. The parade was really short and the kids basically just circled the front of the clubhouse a few times, but they had fun. Plus, the kid who won the Most Patriotic Award got a free ice cream from the pool snack bar.

Nicole’s bike was all decked out and I helped her tie some of the ribbons and flags on. Jack didn’t want to miss out on the fun…

While shopping for decorations for my sister’s bike I stumbled across sprinted to this festive bow and garland. Fabio was concerned that putting a bow on Jack would make him look too girly, but I won in the end and got to adorn Jack He looked great and didn’t mind at all! He was definitely more interested in what the kids were doing than what was around his neck. Plus, I think he looked handsome

Soon the parade started and the kids were off! Obviously my sister was having a great time…

I stood with my grandma on the sidelines.

Once the kids had ridden around a few times, the director of the club announced the winners of the Most Patriotic Award. And (one of) the winners is…”The girl on the pink bike!” (aka my sister). Woohoo!!

Boy was she excited! We headed to the pool immediately after the conclusion of the parade to claim her prize (she chose an ice cream sandwich) while the rest of us relaxed with free celebratory cookies and lemonade.

Hi Grandma! Hi Grandpa!

Then we headed back to the house where we BBQed, went out on the boat, and took the dogs up to the small beach for a swim.

Jack and Cindy (my grandparent's dog)

It was a great day to spend with family!

At around 7 we all piled in the car and headed home. Fabio and I were hoping to catch the DC fireworks and, even more importantly, we were hoping our power was back on.

We rushed home only to find that there were zero parking spaces in our neighborhood because of all the firework-watchers, and our apartment was still dark and hot. At this point I was so frustrated because I really was hoping to come home to power. We parked the car extremely far away, and had just started the trek back to my apartment as the fireworks began to go off, though we weren’t on a hill or anywhere we could see them.

I was in the worst mood ever and thinking how unhappy I was that it was the Fourth of July and I still didn’t have power (after 5 days!) and that I was missing the fireworks. However, then I started thinking about the fact that there are so many people in the world who never have power. Who would give anything to have the life that I live with a good job, a home, and a free country. I started remembering that the point of the Fourth of July is not to watch the fireworks (which were booming overhead even though I couldn’t see them) but it’s to appreciate the life that we have because of the country we live in.

Of course, this is all way easier to recognize now that the anger has dissipated, but I swear in between my cranky comments and grumpy pouting I was thinking it

Anyway, by the time we walked all the way back to my apartment from where we had parked the car, I realized with a shock that the lights were on! Wooooooo! I could not have been more excited and even did a little happy jig on the front step.

Fabio and I quickly turned up the AC, closed the windows, and ran outside to catch the end of the fireworks, with smiles plastered on our faces. We only took about 10 steps and realized we could see them right from our sidewalk. It. Was. Amazing.

So thank you to our armed forces and veterans for keeping this country safe, so that I can selfishly enjoy the small victory of watching the fireworks and sleeping in air conditioning. I appreciate everything you do!!

The Washington D.C. fireworks from my apartment