Wednesday, July 4, 2012

4th of July Memories

Wednesday, July 4, 2012  Monique Rubin  

Happy 4th. We aren’t celebrating America’s birthday this year, and quite honestly, the day often passes with little fanfare around here, since we are usually up to our eyeballs with end-of-year activities for school.  And this year is no different. 

A couple of years ago, however, school ended in time for us to make it to the States to celebrate the holiday, and we had wonderful time, more than making up for all the 4th of July celebrations that we’d missed.

Since it was the first time I’d been to the States for the 4th of July in more than a decade, and the first time ever for Miss P and Miss V, we couldn’t have chosen a better place than Washington, DC to celebrate. We enjoyed the requisite cookout with family in the area – grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins - followed by a few fireworks. 

The sparklers didn’t sparkle very long.  There was very little bang for the buck, so to speak, and the kids weren’t very impressed.  It would have been more fun for them if it had been dark, but we had to get the party the started and finished before bedtime approached for some of the younger kids. 

After the cookout and the sparklers, we went to the National Mall to watch the fireworks show there.  Sitting on our blanket on the mall that night, I saw the great American melting pot – one nation under God- personified. On either side of my multiracial family sat a family speaking a language I couldn’t identify, and a family of muslims, with the women in hijabs and the men wearing taqiyahs. 

As we all watched the bombs bursting in air with spectacular color, and listened to Louis Armstrong over the load speaker, I also thought to myself, “What a Wonderful World”.




HAPPY JULY 4TH!!



 

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