Simply beautiful...

Simply beautiful...

Friday, July 13, 2012

Happy July 13th?

I just looked at my calendar, and I'm wondering how in the world it could be the 13th of July. Didn't the 4th just pass??

I guess I'll chalk it up to the business of summer... But why am I getting the feeling this just might be how I'll be feeling when my kids enter high school? Oh, to be an adult and have to embrace the concept of how time rushes by without any consideration for your own desires...

I wanted to post a couple quick pics from our fourth. It was a busy time surrounding that day, but we were able to slow down enough to celebrate the freedom the day represents.

We spent the afternoon soaking up family and sunshine, and setting off fireworks at Nana and OoOo's house. It included a pretty good show from 4 kids under the age of 5 ;)

Harper thoroughly enjoyed every pop and bang, often with us trying to keep up with her enthusiasm. Bentley, on the other hand, was quite nervous and unsure through most of the escapades... Even "hiding out" in the car for a bit... Right until the very end when he then was asking for more!

In Oregon, it is actually legal to set off your own fireworks; and across the river in Washington it is legal to set off the "show-y, up in the air" kind... So you can guess correctly that countless people in OR cross the line and there are many sights to be had around many neighborhoods.

Once the kids were in bed, my parents stopped by for a celebratory cocktail and the Lake Oswego firework show, which we could watch from our back deck.

Most every fourth, when I'm sitting in the dark... Comfy, relaxed and warm... I am taken aback by the beauty that each explosion paints in the sky, by the joy it elicits. It is then... I am unable to reign in my imagination and I wonder, "what if all those blasts and bangs were real? What if we were under attack... threatened, scared and restless?"

Somehow, I imagine way back when fireworks were invented and adopted as our "freedom tradition", that this was the intent, the hope... That they would cause us to stop, to remember and to be ever thankful for the freedom, peace and security we experience and too often take for granted.

I remember... And I hope to share these thoughts and the importance of what we have with our kids as they grow. Our freedom, security and peace are much to be grateful for.

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