Dear Crabby,
Every year we find ourselves doing something slightly different for the Fourth of July. I just wondered if your family had any traditions that you consistently did for that holiday?
Sincerely, Betsy Ross
Dear Ms. Ross,
We do not have one consistent Fourth of July tradition per se. We do, however, always try to enjoy it as a family, if possible. We try to catch a good fireworks show whenever we can to commemorate the “Rockets’ red glare, and the bombs bursting in air!” Thankfully, we live in Rochester Hills where they always put on a good fireworks show every year! In the early years of our marriage, we tried different places to see who actually had the best fireworks. One year, we even went out on a boat in the Detroit River and watched the show from the water with hundreds of other boaters. This was fantastic, until the show ended and several hundred boaters started their engines and began driving in all directions at one time! We managed to get out of the river in one piece, only to try to navigate up the same shipping channel we came down on and find ourselves face to face with a giant freighter that we almost ran into! It’s amazing how little you can see on the water at midnight! Another year, we tried just looking for high ground in the Oakland County area where we could watch multiple fireworks shows at one time. That option was nice when our children were young and they would fall asleep in their car seats watching the show. I can remember a couple times where my
son had to wake the missus and I after the show was over though; it seems the excitement was able to keep the little guy up better than us old fogeys! There were also many occasions where we found ourselves up north where we enjoyed some of the little fireworks shows put on by some of the small northern communities. I can also remember shooting off some of our own firecrackers up north as well. In summary, I think it is not necessarily important that you have the same tradition every year as much as it is that you celebrate the occasion with the ones you love every year. I have a grandson that just returned from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, and I have had the pleasure of supporting a group that helps the troops as they return home from the war overseas. These are great reminders of why we celebrate our freedom and the price that was paid to bring it to us. Fireworks are just the icing on the cake – make sure you take in the main course and celebrate our freedom with your loved ones each and every year!
Sincerely, Dear Crabby
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