Happy Birthday, America!

I grew up in small town Pennsylvania. It was a place where everyone knew their neighbors, and kids ran in and out of each other's houses on a daily basis. Baseball games were played across two backyards, and nobody thought anything of it. We could swim in the neighbor's pool, as long as we had a grown-up to watch us. And on warm summer nights, we would sleep out on porches or in the backyard under the trees. We'd ride our bikes down the hill to the park in the morning, and walk back up the hill at lunch time. Afternoons might find us hanging out, listening to records, or maybe walking to the library to check out some books. In the evening, we might walk down the hill to the movie theater to see a show, or play games at somebody's house. There wasn't much excitement in our town. But then came the Fourth of July!

Independence Day was a big event in our town. It began with the firemen's jubilee -- a week long carnival with rides, food stands, and game tents. Grown-ups would play bingo in the big tent, while we kids would walk round and round the carnival, visiting with friends, eating candy apples and drinking ice cold lemonade. Boyfriends and girlfriends would walk hand-in-hand, often with the lucky young lady carrying a stuffed animal, bravely won by her friend's ring-tossing skills. The ferris wheel took riders soaring into the sky and the merry-go-round horses went up and down as music played and added to the festive atmosphere.

The Fourth of July parade was always a spectacle. People would line both sides of the street, some with lawn chairs, most just standing, as vendors walked along selling cotton candy and balloons. Shiny red fire engines would slowly roll along, the firemen proudly riding on the back, and sometimes they would even ring their bell or blow their siren, to the delight of children on the sidewalk. Firemen's bands, fife and drum groups, and drum and bugle corps from neighboring cities and towns provided the music. Color guards from far and wide marched proudly down the street, and majorettes skillfully twirled their batons.

The holiday was filled with picnics and games, water balloons and badminton. There was always a baseball game to listen to on the radio. And watermelon, juicy and sweet and filled with seeds that we'd spit as far as we could. As the sun went down in the west, we would hear a few BOOMS, reminding us that soon there would be fireworks. Our firemen had the best display in the area. The colorful flowers exploded in the sky, sparkling reds and golds and blues and greens, accompanied by the "oohs and aahs" of spectators and followed by a flash and a loud BOOM! And then came the Grand Finale -- that moment when the whole sky lit up with beautiful colors as rocket after rocket went up into the heavens with such thunderous noise, the ground shook beneath our feet. And then it was over. Another year of celebrating the birth of our nation -- the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Happy Birthday, America!