Fireworks!

"And the rockets red glare.

The bombs bursting in air."

- The Star Spangled Banner

The Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays next to Christmas and Thanksgiving. I've spent many fabulous Fourths at Lakeside, Kiwanis and in Baltimore. Yesterday, I started a new tradition.

I helped set fireworks up for Zambelli! Dennis is a pyrotech, so he asked if I could help also. I spent hours in the hot sun unloading tubes from a truck and then carefully placing the bombs in each tube.

Due to my limited firework skills, my duties ended there. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the picnic pavilion waiting out the rain. 

I have no desire to shoot because I'm scared of getting hurt.  And another selfish reason...I don't want to give up actually watching the fireworks.

I will admit there is something special about watching a fireworks display knowing that you touched each of those bombs and that now they were being fired by your fiancé and future brother-in-law.

I enjoyed every colorful expulsion despite the rain, smoke, ash and falling debris. It was like my own private fireworks display.

At the end of the show, after everything cooled down, we had to break down the tube, load up the truck and pick up the trash. It was all worth it thinking about the awesome display and cheers at the end.

Today, I'm exhausted, a little burned (I ran out of sunscreen that 's how much I had on and I still burned) and incredibly sore from all the lifting but it was worth every moment!

It was another wonderful holiday! Happy Fourth of July! God Bless America!