Missing the Old Fourths

Fourth of July is more depressing than Christmas.

There are certain holidays which have been more clearly affected by my parent's divorce. Part of me is desperate for the old extended family interactions, and part of me just wants to isolate and not deal.

Fourth of July as a kid was AWESOME! Every year we'd head up to Grandma's cabin in Longville, MN. Everyone was there. Grandma, Grandpa, all the aunts, uncles, cousins. It was summer at it's best. We'd get to go to the parade, where they threw candy at us. We'd spend the afternoon in town, getting ice cream at Frosty's the local ice cream shop. They actually carried bubble gum ice cream, with actual bubblegum in it! There were turtle races. Tons and tons of turtle races. We'd pick out our turtles and get a number written in masking tape to put on it's back. I don't recall ever winning, but it was fun none the less. I remember one year they had a ring toss where you had to toss the ring over a two liter of pop and then you'd get to keep the pop. Between all us kids we brought home a trunk load of two liters.

You couldn't beat the fireworks either. We'd go out on the boat, relax with the quiet rocking and watch the show. And when we got home there were more sparklers and illegal fireworks to set off. I still remember those fireworks propped in pop cans taking off and exploding in the sky.

Summers full of watermelon, smore's, water skiing, canoeing, swimming in the bay, sunning at the island, diving off the pontoon, playing cards, watching Wheel of Fortune (Channel 4 being the only station the little TV received), ping pong in the basement, sleeping on bunk beds, putting together puzzles from the library, reading a ton, picking raspberries, going on strawberry hunts (wild strawberries are the best!) taking driving lessons from Uncle Skip (sitting in his lap and steering on the old dirt roads) and generally sucking the marrow out of life.

Damn I wish I were a kid again.