Ok, so I have to admit this – as holidays go, I don’t like July 4th. As a big opponent of civil religion and the rituals of patriotism, July 4th hasn’t ever really done it for me. Seeing how my Dick Cheney’s government has tapped into this wealth of “national pride” as justification for its dirty deeds, I like it even less now.
It wasn’t always quite this way. Back when I used to play in concert bands, the July 4th concert was always fun to play because the music was a lot of fun. And outside of the weeping pride for country, I enjoyed that. But the only thing I’ve ever really liked about July 4th is the fireworks. That’s right, the loud, pretty explosions do it for me. Not the flag waving, not the singing of patriotic songs, not the name-dropping of dead founding fathers who would be embarrassed and disappointed at what our country has become… just the explosions in the sky.
We’d talked about going to see some fireworks tonight, but seeing that the nearest fireworks to us (as far as we knew – this is our first 4th of July in Denver) were downtown at various sports venues, we really didn’t feel like climbing on the bus or light rail to go hang out with the crowds. After all, if it were a warm evening, there’d be nothing worse than standing for hours and swelling up like a big-old pregnant woman sausage. Other options were available, but late-night bus service in Denver is sparse, so it just didn’t seem like it was going to happen. And who wants to spend 90 minutes on busses for a 30-minute show?
So we decided not to, and stayed home and had a nice simple dinner. Sitting at the table, though, I heard fireworks go off. We’ve been hearing them for weeks (kids playing in the alley), but I happened to look up at the window and realized that there was in fact a fireworks display going on at the Country Club a couple of blocks over, mostly viewable from our front lawn! Some of the view was blocked by an apartment building, but we got to see most of it without leaving the comfort of our front porch, and it was a nice surprise.
And then it got much, much better.
Rain! And not just sprinkles, but rain rain! I’m sure our plants are pleased, but we were much happier. We went out and sat on the step until it the cold of the water was too much – it’s been dry and hot here for a while, and even when it’s not too hot, even when it’s cloudy, there hasn’t been a good rainstorm for a while.
The air is now clean and moister, and I suspect we’re going to sleep well tonight 
You guys can keep your national songs and flag-waving – I’ll take rain any day!
Professional computer geek and linguist living in Germany, doing infosec stuff and being the freakiest mother ever.
Oh, in our heat waves I prayed for rain, too. And even though I love the sun and the heat, it gets tiresome when you (and your baby) can’t sleep at night from it.
I love the rain