Sunday, July 1, 2018

Sparklers

Do you remember 4th of July sparklers?


When I was  kid, my family often had a 4th of July picnic at the lake with my aunt, uncle and cousins and whatever relatives were nearby.  After a day of ham sandwiches made with Mom's homemade rolls, potato salad and watermelon and a jar of Auntie Em's famous dill pickles, we would spend the afternoon swimming. 

When evening was near, we would climb into the cars and head to town to watch the fireworks.

By the time we got home, it was pitch dark.  Dad would get the packages of sparklers from wherever he had hidden them to keep them out of our hands until the right moment.  Then he would light them one at a time for each kid and we would run around the yard, leaving a trail of sparks.  We made circles and wrote our names in the air.  We played until the sparklers were gone.

I think Dad would have loved to have some fireworks that made lots of noise or shot up in the air, exploding in a blaze of glory.  But Mother wouldn't allow it.  So we had sparklers.  Dad did manage to sneak some firecrackers under Mother's radar so there was a grand finale of a whole package of firecrackers going off.

Last evening it was cool enough to open some windows.  Somewhere around midnight I heard a strange sound.  When I looked out my front window I saw in the street below, in front of the bar next door, a group of six or seven adult men and women.   They had sparklers.  They were running back and forth with them, drawing shapes and writing their names with them in the air.  They were having such a good time, laughing and cutting up just like we did as kids.

They made me smile.

10 comments:

  1. lol - It's easier to act like a kid after a couple beers! Good memories, though.

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    1. Gorges...They likely had enough to be a little silly, but not enough to be rowdy. I got a kick out of watching them relive their childhoods. :)

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  2. I haven't seen any sparklers in a very long time ... but your story made me smile. :)

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    1. Rev. Paul...It was nice to watch folks out having a little harmless fun.

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  3. That's the one fire work we'd get the kids too. Fun!

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    1. Kristina...Same here. I will have to ask my youngest son if he gets sparklers for his kids. I hope he does.

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  4. I remember those well. I stepped on one of the hot wires somebody threw down on the ground, when I was a kid. Not apt to forget that!

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    1. Oh Lordy, Harry. That must have hurt like the devil. I'm surprised some snowflake hasn't had sparklers banned. You know - keep the children safe and all that.

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  5. Oh the memories. I had some on a birthday cake one year. Grandma hide them well. Its was in March. Don't sure if we will have anything this year. If the boys have them, they are well hid.

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  6. Rob...I had forgotten about sparklers until I saw those folks having such a good time playing with them.

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