Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Red, White and Summertime Blues

Wow, it's the 4th of July, Independence Day...the one day that most people are at the beach or at a barbecue, gathered with friends and family and I am not doing anything like that. Today, I am missing the summers of my past.
I have great memories of 4th of July's gone by of my family playing in the pool all day, lounging in the sun, maybe Grandparents would come over and hang out. Regardless of who was there, we would always barbecue burgers and dogs and have my Mom's apple pie and ice cream (sometimes we would even make the ice cream!).
I will share a funny 4th of July memory. It was 1993, the year I came out to California for the summer (I thought I would stay forever, but didn't). My Mom and Dad let me have my boyfriend at the time spend the night with me in the backyard in the tent we used to camp in. At the crack of dawn my Dad started pumping Marine Corps band patriotic tunes out of the speakers in the backyard and came out attempting to play a trombone he had purchased at a garage sale while marching around the tent to wake us up. I was probably cranky and embarrassed at the time, but I think we all ended up having a good laugh in the end.
Things have changed so much since that last summer at my parents house. I moved out and came back at the end of that summer but nothing was as permanent as it had been before. I didn't stick around as much and went off and did my own things with my friends most of the time. I moved out again a couple summers later and have been in San Francisco now for 10 years. The summers here are cold and foggy and I find myself longing for the hot sun and humidity of the Midwest this time of year.
I miss the Independence Days of the past, before I was independent.

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