Remembering the 4th

 Whenever I'm in the stores I see an assortment of 4th of July merchandise, from paper plates to cheaply made flags to giant balloons wishing you a happy day. Our independence seems to be commercialized just like many other holidays. I've asked people what they had planned for our national holiday and many said they didn't know yet or worse yet they were doing nothing special. To me it's sad. I wondered if anyone else remembered the 4th of July the way it used to be, or at least the way I remembered it.

My family camped all summer long in upstate New York. So it is no surprise that we celebrated the 4th there as well. To call it a family celebration is an understatement for sure; our family were just one among dozens of families that spent their summers at camp. Some of them only spent a couple weeks out of the summer with us, others like us were there from the time school ended to the time it begun in the fall. Of course there were also families that just decided to tent it for the holiday weekend but all were welcome to celebrate in the campground. It never rained, or at least to the best of my memory. I'm sure it must have at some point in time, even if it was just a shower, but maybe the excitement of the day blocked things like that from my mind. The owners set up barbeque pits early on in the day, providing everything imaginable- traditional hotdogs, hamburgers, barbequed chicken, but what stands out the most in my memory were the big pits that roasted corn on the cob and the adults favorite, clam bake. Mothers brought along side dishes and offered it to anyone who wanted some. I remember a sea of noodle and potato salads, chips, pretzels, apple pies, jello, you name it, it was offered.

But who had time to eat? Perhaps all that food was for the adults because I know as children we were either doing canonballs into the pool, playing video games in the recreation hall, riding our bikes, or patiently waiting for the campground games. Our young competition faces arrived for those- playing things such as egg toss, water balloon toss, three legged races, and relay races. I don't remember winning anything, if there were prizes it was for the penny candies that was sold in the rec-hall. It didn't matter, we weren't there for prizes except for maybe the egos we had when we won something. The ulitimate activity for us was back at the pool. All summer long inside the campgrounds main office/store was a jar for loose change. By the time the 4 th of July rolled around, it was full and needed to be emptied. All of us kids would line up around the pool, eager to jump in but knowing we had to wait, while the owners slowly threw all the money in the pool. We burst with excitement, plotting where we were going to dive, spotting the silver coins, and trying our hardest to remember once our bodies entered the water. Then when every coin settled, we were given the okay to go for it and within minutes every last penny was retrieved. To this day I'm sure every dime collected was spent that very day on candy, ice cream, and soda. Smart marketing on the owners behalf yes, memories that lasted a lifetime for us kids, absolutely!

As the sun settled and the barbeque pits cooled, we awaited the best time of the holiday from a child's eye and I'm sure from adults as well. We gathered by the lake and watched the fireworks but they weren't big fancy displays. Every amazing burst of sparkling lights that crossed the sky was lit by one of us, adults launching the bottle rockets that went high in the sky while the older kids lit firecrackers on the ground and the smaller children waved their hands that held sparklers. To me the night went on forever although now that I'm an adult, I'm guessing it was probably less than two hours but the best two hours of the day.

And we did all of that because each and every one of us were proud to be Americans. I'm still proud and I truly hope that somewhere out there people still celebrate our freedom in a tradition thats as American as apple pie. I know I do, happy 4th of July to you all:)