1st of the Month
And so a new month begins, as we ventured further in the dog days of Summer. I'm not much of Summer fan, the heat gets to me rather quickly but then I also get cold too easily. I'm just a difficult person when it comes to maintaining a good temperature. In a few days is a fun-filled holiday. At least it was growing up. I lived in a rather small and quaint town. I believe my town stretched to 3 miles long in total. What was so great about living in a small town was the traditions. It wasn't anything like Stars Hollow in the TV show, "Gilmore Girls," but it had its moments. One of them being the 4th of July Parade. Lucky for us, my family lived on one of the streets that the Parade came down on, so we got up early and sat on our steps and watched. There would tons of old cars, horses, boy scouts, softball teams, the Mayor, etc. They sometimes threw candy at us, where all of us kids were running trying to capture all the little hard candy. Then once the parade passed us, we ventured down to the park. Along the way, we would pass people we knew and talked with them. We were small town but not small enough where you knew everybody. At the park where everything ended but also started. They had train rides, tons of concessions (funnel cake and sno-cones), contests (cutest baby, cutest couple in the kids categories, etc.) Performances of local marching bands, dancers and the like, where we would check out the best float contest. Personally, I always felt that the Library float was always so well-done. I think I may be a bit bias since I spent my childhood at the library, reading every book that they had, ala Matilda. But then, it was time to get on the little train where it went around the park, so much joy to get there early enough to pick your favorite seat in the caboose. After taking the train around, waving to all of the folks around, it was ice cream time. Tickets were handed out by dad who kept hold of them, then we ran over to get our dixie cups of ice cream with the wooden spoons. Just when you think it's over, we head back home, with all of us kids hoping that we can stop by the convenience store to pick up sparklers and other fireworks that we could all play with. They did always stop too. But the day was hardly over, as we had to get back to prep for the house for our Annual 4th of July Party. Our family and friends would come over for some yummy food and delightful conversations. We would have water balloon fights, wiffleball tournaments, playing basketball at our neighbor's driveway. It was all in good, wholesome fun. Something that you would read about in books or see on TV or movies. But I got to live it. The night always ended with a lot of us heading down to the lower park and getting the best spot possible. My aunt would always happen to have those awesome glow bracelets and necklaces that she would hand out to all of us kids. It was so much cooler to have those on when watching fireworks, clearly. The day was an exhausting one but again the memories still shine on as we moved away and grown up since those dog days of Summer. I missed those days but I ever grateful to have those memories with me for the rest of my lives.