The Thrill is Gone...

When I was a kid I remember seeing the fire
works with my parents. R.I. was really strict
with fireworks so we didn't have them as a family.

When I had kids, we always had fireworks at our
house. And I always took the kids to the city, town,
or county fireworks. We all loved them.

We use to do our own when we lived in the country
which was most of the time. We had spin wheels that
we nailed to a long board and set them off, one after the
other. We had the kind that went up about 18 feet. We
had the noisy ones. The bigger the bang the more we
loved it. And the kids had sparklers... they were really
bummed out, the 4 years we were in R.I. As it is against
the law.

But now, it just doesn't seem as much fun. We haven't
had personal fireworks for about 8 years. And we haven't
been down to the city fireworks for over 4 years. It was one
of those been there, did that. Went down and sat for 3 flaming
hours before the fireworks started... we saw more in the
surrounding hills than we saw at the beach. And the ones at
the beach lasted 10 minutes. I know this because when they
finally started I looked at my watch to see when they actually
started, which was at 10 o'clock pm straight up. As I folded my
chair to start back to the car, I looked at the watch, and it was
10:11pm. Been there, did that, won't do that again.

So now on 4th of July, we hear the bang of the fireworks, and
think, oh, yea... fireworks. And continue what we are doing.
As we might see one or two from our house. And it sure isn't
worth finding a place to watch for 10 minutes. When I took
my kids it was at least 30 minutes.

So now the thrill is gone.