Remembering The Fourth

It's the end of what seems to of been a very long week. I wish I could say I've been so busy that I'm just exhausted but if anything is the opposite is true. I'm so tired of doing nothing that I'm exhausted. That's an interesting contradiction of terms I suppose but is true. I spent the week getting ready for today, my faux holiday picnic and I pulled the picnic off granted it was just me with one sloppy Joe, a couple tablespoons of potato salad Ice-T and the promise of watermelon. Plus, “Extraction” starring Bruce Willis on my Netflix sort of background noise.

The other night I was with my friend who lives across the hall, her name is Billie, Billie is older than I am and we often talk to my evening about the days events, books other people at the apartments. Last night I it was interesting she stopped me in the middle of a thought and asked me what I remembered was my best Fourth of July. I had to stop right there and think there was not one particular Fourth of July unless it was the Fourth of July where the National Guard had to 30 caliber machine gun set up on a tripod firing blanks and anyone who stood in line long enough to burst off a number of blanks. I thought that was great but I don't remember if it was the Fourth of July or 24 July. It was in Boise at the fairgrounds. If I to default to a individual Fourth of July I could not do it but I can't say there was a construct of a Fourth of July or perfect Fourth of July I remember. As you know, we lived on a farm and my dad was a sheet metal worker. We seem to work all the time even national holidays but there's something sacred about the Fourth of July and even though we might be in the middle of the first or second cutting of hay we would bring in one or two loads of hay then break for the Fourth of July did together down at Julie Davis Park in Boise. There we would meet up with my cousins, the Bassett's, Carpenters and cousins the Walls. This had to be in the late 50s early 60s of the last century. Before everyone aged out of innocence. Julie Davis Park is an ancient Park for Boise. The trees are stately and much of the park is canopied beautifully. They had the best playground with huge slides. All the staples were present potato salad, hot dogs or hamburgers, usually Kool-Aid are some cheap knockoff soda but it was fun. There was potato chips sometimes even Clover club, usually baked beans and other kinds of salads, cakes sometimes and of course watermelon. The grown-ups and the older kids put everything together we cousins take off to the playground and it's the best time. We eat and gorge ourselves out on potato chips will be only times I really can eat potato chips to my delight. If I'm lucky I get red Jell-O and Kool-Aid with ice.

After the meal, we cousins take off back to the playground, the old kids cleanup and my dad and Jim Bassett lay down and go to sleep, the take a nap right there in the park. Once a few times I see my dad take advantage of slack time with a nap. This seems like the whole world stopped for two or three hours but the two old guys finally wake up and work needs to be done in other places. Everything we brought is packed into the blue Ford station wagon we head off back to the farm to milk the cows for the evening milking and if my dad is really lucky that might be enough time to get in another load of hay.

That memory is of my best Fourth of July's. Soon after that things change as we headed into adolescence the whole world changed. Vietnam was a dark cloud on the horizon I was messing around with motorcycles and trying to be cool and everybody was growing up or getting old and we just didn't have time for family get-togethers much after that but that's what I remember most…