Independence Days

Mondays, you got to love ‘em. First day of the week and this one is smack in the middle of two independence days. Canada day, eh, on July 1 and, of course, Fourth of July (the name speaks for itself). My first Canada day as a resident of this lovely country was also its 150^th birthday; pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Towns all over celebrated this milestone in different ways. One of the towns, a stone’s throw away from me, celebrated with a lunch, tractor pull and fireworks later in the evening. I haven’t quite found the thrill in a good tractor pull but I do love the spell that a good set of ear pro pulls over my hearing.

I will admit my first thought (a year ago when the father in-law told me the 150^th was coming up) was along the lines of, mental pause, ‘my Marine Corps is older, way older and people are excited about this?’ However, as the year marched onward and blasted the door open on this year, I began to get excited for this big moment in history for Canuckland.

It was fun to see how the Canucklanders celebrated as a whole and as families. And that the die-hard farmers could take a day off and enjoy the holiday too. I will always be comparing the independence day celebrations of my two countries, that’s life eh, but I’ve learned it’s so much fun to enjoy both and appreciate their differences.  

Logo. Photo credit: internet

Back at home, the annual maternal family reunion is taking place on the fourth, straight up at noon. As a kid, I recognized just about everyone that showed up. Nowadays, as those kids marry, throw some kids and the old folks earn new marks of wisdom (and sass) it’s harder to recognize everyone and what shoot of the family tree they belong to. Once the food is gone and the ice cold beverages are long gone in the simmering, sticky heat an efficient roll call of sorts makes the rounds so the younger generations have a slim chance of playing the memory game next year and winning. Surprisingly, the more wisdom one has, the sharper with names they are; with a few exceptions of course. It’s like someone took a sharpie and wrote them a cheat list, that also happens to be matched correctly to the face. 

Then it’s back to the farm to chill in the ac or find a pool for a swim. The fun stuff, the fireworks, are brought out as the sun gives a cheeky wink. Fireflies compete with sparklers and provide the perfect ground show for the sky high artillery shells exploding in shimmering arcs overhead. Neighbors have a friendly, unspoken competition with each other and it’s always apparent which one has the little kids. There’s more of the fountains and boxed, little artillery and crackling pops of rockets. 

Enjoy the fireworks and freedom!