The Holidays..

Sunday turned into quite a wonderful day.

(Picture to the left is our view of the fireworks off the jetty)

M. and I went to and afternoon BBQ at a friends house. Chicken and Beef Kabobs and the most wonderful angel food cake concoction that I have ever eaten. Then we biked up to the Seawall to watch the fireworks. There were people lined up for miles on the seawall, which is always a nice thing to see (minus the trash they leave behind). Though for a novice bike rider like myself weaving through the people became a little to nerve racking so we took the back roads til we got to where we wanted to be. We ended up less than a block away from where they were setting the fireworks off at the end of the jetty on 37th St. We found a spot amongst the people who were already set up on the beach and waited for the action to start. And it did with a bang. Most of them seemed to go off right over our heads and that night they seemed a little brighter, a little more sparkly, and a little more special. Minus the terrible music that was being played by the dance party bus that was stationed above us on the seawall the sounds of the holiday were pretty nice. The fireworks exploding, the people cheering and oohing, and the waves rolling in. The colors of the people, the lights on the water, and the brillance in the sky. It was sensory overload but in a way that all seemed to come together and work for that moment.

The bike ride home was nice and cool and enjoyable, except for the massive pain in my ass. Both pysically from the bike seat and mentally in the form of Ms lectures on proper biking ettiquette. :)



The 4th tends to be a bittersweet holiday for me. I love to BBQ and spend time with people and watch fireworks, so Independce Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up my family and close family friends would always spend the day cooking and BBQing, listening to music, and really just enjoying spending the day together outside. My mom and I and maybe one of my brothers would pick up fireworks a few miles up the road since they were illegal inside city limits. She would always spend too much money and always make sure we each got the fireworks that we wanted. I always got sparklers and these little chinese friendship pagodas that my friend Noella and I would set off every year. We would smuggle them back to the island under blankets... covert operation style. We lived at the end of a dirt road that led to about 16 acres on the bay so we could set off whatever we wanted without the worries of being bothered by the law or bothering our "neighbors", since we didnt really have any. As the sun would set my brothers and dad would start to set the fireworks out on our wooden table in order of how they would set them off and get the supplies needed (PVC pipes for launching fireworks and palates for the bottle rockets to sit on). From where we lived we could see both Texas City and Hitchcocks fireworks in the distance and could climb on the roof and watch Galvestons. My friends (usually always Noella) and I would busy ourselves with sparklers, writing our names in the air, and setting off our friendship pagodas, that we would keep until the next 4th. There is a certain burning smell that I always associate with them. And when it was time we would all sit on the porch, facing the bay, the music playing, and watch the fireworks that my dad and brothers set off for us. Our own private show. Surrounded by the people who meant everything in the world to me and place that is unmatched anywhere in this world. I miss it. Every year since we moved 6 years ago. We are all in different places now but I hope that at least for a moment on the 4th we are all remembering how beautiful and truely amazing those Fourth of Julys were.

(The picture to the right is of the house that I grew up in. The porch we would watch the fireworks is on the far left side and extended the length of the house facing the pasture out to Galveston Bay)