Fireworks

What is it about fireworks? They never fail to make my heart race and put a grin on my face. The painting above was done by Cullen Justice in my art class a few days before the fourth. He painted his favorite family memory complete with his dad grilling hot-dogs on the girl.

Here are some of my own favorite memories from past independence days.

2009 at Uncle David's beach house-- watching fireworks from top-deck and seeing them all up and down the coastline for miles and miles.

2007 Driving over the Talmadge bridge in Savannah and timing it just perfectly so that we could see the fireworks over River St.

2004 Working at the A-Bar-A- Ranch in Wyoming. The kids counselors put up flags and banners around the pool side and then put barbecue sauce on what seems liked 100 pounds of ribs and chicken wings. We worked hard all day long, but at 9 p.m., when the fireworks started, we all laid back on our blankets outside of the ranch and watched a spectacular fireworks show right overhead. That same summer, my girlfriends and I snuck out of our cabins at midnight with thermoses of spiked hot-chocolate and watched a meteor shower as we sang the entire soundtrack to Dirty Dancing.

My favorite fourth of July memory ever...2006: Dave and I had just started dating and we returned home from our first road-trip together. Over the weekend, we saw a space shuttle launch at the cape, and then ate ridiculously large cheeseburgers in Daytona beach, Fla. We arrived back in Savannah just around 8:45 p.m.-- 15 minutes before the fireworks started on the river front. Racing over cobblestones and bricks in our flip-flops, we high-tailed it down Bull St. and made it just in time to watch the grand finale. It was hot, sweaty, and wonderful.