It's a Wonderul Summer

When I was a kid, my family lived across the street from the little park in our little town, so we always got a front row seat to the humble fireworks display the city always staged every year from the small, man-made lake in the park.  My folks still live in that same house, near that same park, in fact.  Anyway, being so young, every single bright sparkler that lit up the dark summer sky was glorious, and was more than enough to commemorate Independence Day each and every summer, and christen it with joy and awe, each and every year.

When I got older, in college, I befriended a guy from Iran (of all places).  To this day, he's neither particularly religious or political and even if he were, I would still try to take him as he is; a good friend.  In any case, one long, hot summer, when I had nearly forgotten how magical the yearly fireworks display can really be, my foreign friend told me he had no one to watch the Fourth of July festivities with.

He said it would mean a lot if I accompanied him to watch the fireworks, so that evening, we sat, mostly in silence, on the grass near the big Mizzou stadium and just watched as every bright color and glittering formation decorated the crisp evening sky above.  After it was all over, misty eyed, he thanked me with an earnest smile, the likes of which I have scarcely seen before or since, while I naturally, just kept telling him it was nothing.  "No big deal."

But that's when I realized just how much of a big deal the Fourth of July really is.  Just how important it is to have friends and loved ones to witness the change of seasons and the special moments that come only once, every single year, of our all too brief lives.  And since then, I know, that just to be with, or to be there for someone, when it really counts... is truly enough.  More than enough.

And this year, I will miss the great American Fourth of July fireworks display once again.  Of course, fireworks were invented in China, so over here in South Korea, I do get to see them from time to time, but it's never quite the same, you see.  Anyway... rich or poor, famous or obscure, this year's anniversary of the founding of our great nation will never come again in quite the same way.  So this year, if you can, please, please find a nice place to maybe sit on the grass (or in a lawn chair) and look up and enjoy every single color and glittering light formation.

It's all, all too brief, and when it's over, it never happens again in quite the same way... until the next year rolls around and everyone you know, including yourself, is one more year older, and the life you knew over the past twelve months has changed in so many ways, great and small.  Anyway, Happy Fourth of July (or whatever summer holiday or tradition you hold dear) to everyone, everywhere.  And remember that if you have special people in your life, you'll always be among the richest and most famous of folks around.

"Remember that no man is a failure who has friends."  ~  It's a Wonderful Life (1946)