Every year I find myself even more infatuated with the fourth then I was the last time. When I was just a little kid and I didn’t really know what most things meant, I always thought that the fourth was about staying up late and watching the fireworks. Now though, now that I’m older and kind of understand most things, I realize that the fourth is more, it’s about family and being together not just for celebrating our shared independence or staying up late. For me the fourth of July is about family and watching magic.

Two Fourth of July’s ago My little sisters and I were at my uncle Phillips house for a month and that month just so happened to be July. Well, this was our first holiday away from our mom so we weren’t really feeling the holiday spirit, our uncle saw this and took us over to his neighbor/co-workers house and she had a huge family and friends and food everywhere and it kind a felt like magic, until I looked for my mom and remembered she wasn’t there.

So fast forward to a year later, and my siblings and I are all here with each other, our mother, our father, our aunt and cousin, and our grandpa (from our dad’s side) and even though I really didn’t know our grandpa or our aunt I knew they were family and that they loved me like I loved them and that is what made it magic, well that and the food.

Our last fourth of July started like any other I suppose, we didn’t have fireworks yet so my mom and dad and I went to get some and ended up meeting up with my aunt and grandpa. We ended up inviting them to celebrate with us and so they said yes, but it was only about 10 in the morning so they decided to go home and get ready first which is what we did. We got home and we cleaned the house took out the dogs to play in the back yard for a bit so when the fireworks started they would be fine and asleep. I was cleaning when my little sister took the dogs in the back, so when I went into the backyard to get them inside, it felt like I had a mini heart attack because in the back yard were children covered from head to toe in mud and two big pit bulls rolling around in the mud like it was the best thing ever.

So, the kids went onto the porch so I could spray them off with the hose, then they went inside to shower and that whole time I let the dogs play because I needed help to shower them outside. So I got the dogs showered and the kids dressed again, so I had to go in the front yard and help get that ready and presentable for the BBQ and after that I showered and got ready and then by that time it was time to start the fire for the BBQ.

After we were all done eating it was starting to get dark outside so we gave the kids sparklers, and well my 13-year-old sister, my 17-year-old brother, my 18-year-old aunt and me (a 15-year-old) all played with the little kid fireworks as well. Then the real fun started when we lite up the street with smoke bombs and other big fireworks and all of our neighbors with kids were lighting their fireworks to and it was magic all over again and I loved it and I can just fall in love with all over again. So at the end of the day the fourth is not about celebrating our shared independence or staying up late or even for some people just getting drunk and doing stupid stuff, it’s about being close to friends and family and falling in love with whatever all over again.