Fathers, the Fourth and Family.

June 28th - Tuesday - Hot as Hell in Childress Texas (117 degrees)

Well, Father's day 2011 has passed, sister's birthday party a recent memory and now looking forward to the Fourth of July. I do believe my father had a grand ol time on Sunday the 19th. Although not all of his 8 showed up, half of us made it and we had enough fun and beer for us all! I and my brother Joel were the first to show up and I put on some Adele for my dad to listen to. I was impressed that he knew her name, he had read that she outsold Gaga....Ribs, potato salad and all the fixings made for a great meal but the the chemistry of us plus our spouses and children made an intoxicating atmosphere for my father. He is a lucky man to have the love of so many...
And then there was my sister's party last Friday night...wow, "Oh what a night..." I am proud to say I managed to NOT get thrown in the pool, however I did leave with cake frosting in my hair and a few fingertip bruises on my arm! I am a veteran at this kind of rough housing and I know when to strike and when to run!

Now I am making plans for The Fourth of July. It is one of my favorite holidays and we celebrate it every year in a big way. Many years we will stay in town, but we have celebrated the Fourth in The Colony, Carrollton, Addison, Canton, Galveston and Dallas. After 911, the City of Dallas did a huge fireworks display, one of the largest in the country and we were right there. We all rendezvoused at the factory in Oak Cliff and then drove to the banks of the Trinity River. It was one of my favorite family moments...as we all sat on the hoods of our cars, some in lawn chairs, drinking cold beer and eating hot tamales while the boom, boom, kaboom exploded over our heads. I stood on the roof of my  4runner and stretched my hands up in to the air, pretending that I was holding the fireworks. They were that close and that big! As the night time sky was lit up with the colors of the fireworks, we could see the thousands of people standing on the Trinity River bridge, all packed in like tiny ants milling about. There was complete silence among one of the biggest crowds ever to witness a fireworks show. Only the repetative explosions opening the night skies; we held our breath and exhaled as one body, one nation, under God.

This week is about us, America, about our freedom, our hard earned independence and our joy in reveling in it. So live it up, shoot your fireworks, eat your Apple pie, watermelons, hot dogs. Don't forget your hot tamales. Drink your cold beer and enjoy. We still live in the land of the free.

God Bless America!