Remembering the Fourth of July:
Some years ago, my mother (under a pen name) wrote a long series of columns for the FINDLAY TIMES, a newspaper in Findlay, Ohio. This (after the cut line) is her column for July 1, 1995, with some minor corrections from me:
In those few moments as they passed by me, flags flying, legs moving in time to the music, drums beating loud and hard, ( Read more... )
In those few moments as they passed by me, flags flying, legs moving in time to the music, drums beating loud and hard, ( Read more... )
Okay, you're thinking it had something to do with the con, right? That was part of it. My other problem, the more major one to me, was that I REALLY didn't want to move to Phoenix in the first place, and really wanted nothing at all to do with the city. I was supposed to be in Oak Park, with my friends, watching fireworks at the high school. Not sitting under the misting machines on some lawn over 2000 miles away! To me, 4th of July had become a day when you're supposed to be HOME, and celebrating the fact that you are HOME. Phoenix was not my HOME, and I never wanted it to be. Nowadays, there's things I miss about Phoenix (the weather), but just as many tings I'm glad to be away from (the weather). Okay, and Phoenix fandom was great too.
Years later, I'd followed my son's father, Wra, and was living in Springfield, Missouri, and still wishing I could be HOME, in Oak Park. After things didn't go well, we broke up, and I met Paul, my daughter's father. We moved to a southern part of town, (Campbell & Battlefield, I think? I kinda tried to forget), then 6 miles from the border of Nixa, with Ozark being beyond that. A few years later, they extended the border several miles, so I think maybe Nixa and Ozark have probably been annexed by now. We lived right by a pedestrian bridge going over Campbell, so we went up there with a baby buggy, and later, with three year old Lojen toddling along, and sat up there with some neighbors, realizing we likely had the best view in town. Over the somewhat flat, somewhat hilly land, we could see probably 20 miles in some directions.
The last year I went up on that bridge, Paul and I already knew we'd be divorcing soon, and I'd be leaving town when the weekend was over. My parents gave me about 3 days to pack up an entire 2 bedroom apartment into the smallest U-Haul available, without help from anyone (husband wouldn't help, and Lojen kept needing attention). I was in an incredibly bad mood, but decided to make the most of what I knew would be my last time watching. I was in a worse mood when I got back to Chicago, missing more than half my stuff because it wouldn't fit in the U-Haul, and having my parents treat me like I was 15 again. (This partly explains why I am no longer living there, and they're raising my daughter.)
This year, my son's father, Wra, is coming to Chicago for about 4 days, partly to see me, and partly to see his brother, who moved here from Arizona. Funny how the brother's been in Chicago 4 years, and we haven't run into each other yet, considering we all met at a con in Arizona. Wra managed to keep some of my stuff together all those years, despite the fact that he's moved numerous times, and went through his own nasty divorce and child custody case. He's bringing two HUGE boxes of stuff, so he says, and says I'll be really surprised at what I'll find. Heck, I'm still surprised he managed to keep any of it.
He'll be here over 4th of July weekend, so this makes my life really interesting. For once, I'll be HOME, with almost all the people I care about.
Oh, I forgot to mention... In past years, I'd been visiting Drew in Toronto for Canada Day, and Toronto Trek. :) Doesn't look like I'll make it this year. :~(
Reply
Leave a comment