4th of July festivities

I have many a fond memory from 4th of July events, from watching the fireworks over the Empire State building to engaging the crowd in chants of “ooh, ah, oh” at the fireworks display over West Point naval academy to the time a friend dropped a lit sparkler in her high top LA Gear shoe, struggling for 20-30 seconds to release the Velcro dead bolt and knotted laces before finally dunking her foot in a bucket of water. This 4th of July was no different. I spent Friday thoroughly testing my liver -it passed!- at 3 bars (Union Jacks Manatawny, Craft Ale House, TJ’s, and well… back to UJ’s) and woke up on Saturday excited to watch the explosions of brightly hued fire bombs dancing on the grass or shooting through the air later that night. While frightened dogs howl and bark and babies cry at the blast of colorful combustibles, I channel my inner pyro and fixate my pupils on the showers of sparks in all the shades of the rainbow. Tom and Kristan at UJ’s provide an informal fireworks show that last year involved a bar regular holding a martini in one hand and lighting a Rain of Fire with the other. One tipsy Roman candle stumbled sideways before firing at a ducking Kristan and Emily. As fountain after fountain were lit this year, I sat entranced, while a colony of starving mosquitos went to town on my temple and left me resembling a lopsided unicorn, or perhaps one horn shy of the devilish twin that sometimes occupies my right shoulder. 20 minutes of pyrotica and I was good. Happy 4th of July America!