Reliving childhood memories with my daugh...not so fast.

I don't remember how old I was, but I remember plenty of details from my family's Fourth Of July experiences.  We would arrive at the park early enough to plant a spot as close as they would let me, trying to avoid the dogs, cats, and stuff-on-sticks nearby.  I remember one 4th specifically where I had my ham radio, and I would walk around the park talking to my dad, as if I was a hundred miles away.  I remember the heat being pretty bad, and the bug spray pungent and reapplied often...

And then, when the time had come, the lights from the softball games all shut off at the same time, immediately followed by the roar of the crowd waiting for the fireworks to begin.  I remember the first "thump" and watching the rocket head up before exploding for that first sight of the holiday.  From that moment I would stare in amazement until the last one had fired.

These memories were to be relived this year with my daughter.  She had been talking about it all week, "Are the fireworks today?" "No, not today, four more days," until yesterday.  She could hardly contain her excitement all morning, even at the boat, for the fireworks later that evening (and neither could I...)

It was getting late.  It was about 9PM, and Emily was watching some "George" in the living room at my mom's house.  We (Leslie, Benjamin, mom, Pat, myself) were in the other room talking.  Mom and Pat decided that they weren't going to walk all the way over to the park, so it would just be the three of us (they were going to watch Benjamin).  I read that the fireworks were to begin at 9:45, so the time was coming...

And then, a funny thing happened.  After years of waiting to revisit this part of my childhood... After almost a year of waiting (read our first post from last year's blog...) to take Emily out, and after this final week of preparation, here's how it went down as Emily walked into our conversation:

"Daddy, are we going now to the fireworks?" 

This question had been asked a thousand times in the last week, and probably a thousand more in the last ten hours.  However, this time, the way it was asked was a weeee bit different.  Leslie heard it to.  In fact, probably everybody in the room heard it.  I pushed forward, knowing full well what the next few minutes were going to hold, but I felt if I stayed strong enough, we could make it through...

"In just a little bit.  Aren't you excited?" [Jedi Mind Trick Activated] You WILL be excited, you WILL be excited, you WILL be excited.

"Yeah."  More waivering.. I could see her mother out of the corner of my eye squaring her stance, instinct taking over.  I had to think fast, and act fast.  I focused Emily's attention to me, away from the peering eye of her mother.  Avert your eyes, Emily, do not look into the light!

"Good.  Now go back in the other room quickly and watch the rest of George and then we'll go."  Come on, just follow my instructions, don't look around the room, just listen to my calming voice and head back in there.  It looked like she was about to turn and go.  In my mind, I will always remember that moment as the moment we could have pressed on.  But it was too late, the voice from the other side of the room was speaking, and her hypnotic tone shot through my cloud of mind control all too easily as she said...

"Emily, we can go to the park and watch them, or we can watch them from here."

Although I knew it was over at that moment, I wasn't giving up without a fight.  I placed both of my hands on Emily's head, moved it back to look at me, and gave it my all, "Emily, we're going to go to the park in just a minute (chuckles from the other people in the room.. they knew my feeble attempts were nothing compared to the voice of her mother...  I think I even heard Leslie whisper, "You're powers are weak old man..")  She quietly responded, "...will they be loud?"

The stake drove hard... Can...not...give...up...  "They'll be a little loud (more chuckles), but it'll be okay.  Just go back in ther--"

"Will they be tiny here?"

Ah hah.. this could be my moment to turn it around.  "Oh, they will be TINY.  You probably won't even be able to see them over here Emily.  Waaaay too tiny, might as well not ev---"

"I want to stay here and watch."

You think I'm done?  You think that's it?  You talkin to me?  I don't think so, the force is strong in this one my friends.  "Emily, we can stay here if you want, but you won't be able to see them.  We can go to the park and it will be FUN [you WILL go to the park, you WILL go to the park]."

"I want to stay here and watch."

The voice of reason from the other side of the room again, "We can go to the park next year, this year we can watch from over here, and it will be fine."

Now, in my mind, I allowed her to say that part.  I knew that if I gave up, lifted my sabre, I would become more powerful than she could possibly imagine.  All I had to do now was speak to Emily's mind, "Run Emily, Run!" And we would make it.  Unfortunately, she had already trotted off to go pee pee, back to sounding excited about watching the fireworks.  My favorite part was when Leslie looked at me after she had left the room and said, "Peter, we can go to the park if you really want to..."  You know, you don't have to rub it in Darth.

So, we headed outside.  I didn't pout too much, especially after the first firework went off.  It was clear then (as it had been to everybody else LOOONG long ago [in a galaxy far far away... I couldn't resist] that it would not have been pretty sitting in that park trying to fight my way out as Emily shrieked in terror, never to return...  She loved it out there, and there are some videos below showing her reactions to some of them going off.

We saw a parade, went to the lake, ate lots of good food, swam, and watched fireworks yesteday.  What more could I ask for in a holiday?

Next year... you WILL go to the park...