http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4WFfmE73Sw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8a4iiOnzsc
The 4th has fizzled out, like so many fireworks in the night sky. This year was different than most of my Independence days' past. Because of a variety of reasons, I spent much of this weekend alone- either hiking through the woods with my girls, or sitting by the pool, drink in hand, finding new music and thinking.
This was a departure from most of our past 4ths.
There was the year I met Andrew Patrick. We split a fifth of Bacardi in the back of Adam's car on the way to go see fireworks at Scum Valley. Then we came home and emptied half the pool having a cannonball contest.
There was the year I spent the weekend sleeping in a closet down the shore. At night, I would slug Captain and Gatorade fruit punch- then throw it all up before going to sleep.
There was the year David got severe burns on his stomach when he caught a Roman candle ball during a Roman candle fight- that was the year we got to trash talk 'the bastard' because Sha Sha had found out he'd been cheating.
There were the years we spent here, with a few hundred dollars worth of illegal fireworks. Drinking beers and trying to get a lit firecracker out from between your fingers before the fuse burned out. Shooting bottle rockets into glass bottles and Roman candle wars. Chicken fights and Two Sticks.
This year was good for me though. There wasn't the hooplah from years past, but it was freeing.
For me, freedom doesn't need to be barbecues and fireworks and chasing girls on the boardwalk.
This year, freedom was a 2 hour hike through the woods with the dogs, and reading by the pool until the fireflies came out.
Sometimes, freedom is just spending time by yourself.
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