I’m back. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted . . . . maybe it’s time to get back to it.

This is not your typical 4th of July. I decided to reach back and find a post from many moons ago to remind myself of what the 4th of July was when the world seemed much more safe, much more innocent. So here we go . . . . .

The Fourth of July used to be like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.  When I was very young we spent it with my Mothers family.  Her cousin lived in Glenside and had a big family picnic. Lot’s of people, lot’s of food, swimming in an above ground pool . . . what more could you want.  After the picnic we would all walk in mass into town to watch the Glenside parade followed by fireworks.  There was lots of flag waiving and patriotic music. Things seemed simpler then. As time went by my parents started staying home and having their own company. They put in an above ground pool and fired up the grill.  The company changed over the years till eventually it was my parents, us kids, and our kids and a few others. It was a command performance that none of us would dare miss.  I don’t know anyone brave enough to tell my mother that they were not going to be there for the Fourth of July. Moms birthday is July 3rd so it was an unwritten rule that everyone show up on the Fourth and we have a red, white and blue cake with birthday candles to celebrate.

Things are so different now.  My parents are gone.  There is no big family picnic. The grandkids, that used to love that simple family picnic, are grown with lives and families of their own. Now they go on vacation over the 4th.

Toward the end of my mothers life her memory was fading so she didn’t remember all the fun she used to have or that the Fourth of July was a special day for her.  But I remembered, and still spent the Fourth with my parents till they passed away.  My husband and I didn’t do the picnics and parties. We pack up food and had dinner with the folks.  It’s wasn’t a roaring good time but I had the feeling that some day those would be just as cherished a memory as the big family picnics …. and they are.

This pandemic has put a lot of things in perspective. There are no parades, no fireworks, no big celebrations. I find I don’t need those things. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz I’ve found that to find happiness I don’t have to look any further than my own back yard. I’m blessed with a wonderful family and great friends.

Happy 4th of July!