Fourth of July in Petaluma, CA

Since I still don't really know anyone in California, I was kind of not too excited for the Fourth of July. It hasn't really been a big holiday for me since I was a kid when my grandparents lived at the lake. Back then we would always spend tons of money on fireworks and have our own little fireworks show. I loved the Fourth of July back then- I always used to buy this little pagoda thing that starts out as a compact box, and then you light it and it shoots up into a paper pagoda. I bought them every year even though they did the same thing, and they really weren't super exciting- I just really liked them.

Last summer I remember I was working on the fourth of july and could hear the fireworks through the walls of Barnes & Noble, and the summer before that I was working at camp and we put on a fireworks show for all the kids. That was actually really fun. I laid on the concrete in a parking lot while listening to Magnificent Seventies by American Analog Set and other really great music to accompany fireworks.

Well I guess I was planning on not doing much for the fourth, until a girl I work with, Lisa, invited me to come with her family to a party and then to watch the fireworks in Petaluma. We met up by the studio and then I follwed her up the hill to her friend, Melissa's house. Oh my goodness, this house was beautiful. There were pictures of family and children's artwork on the walls, and I kind of felt like I was in a Pottery Barn catalog- but in a really good, not overdone way. I swam with all the "kids" for a while and then played Liar's Dice and drank vodka and lemonade with the "women"... I didn't really fit into either catagory... I am no longer a kid, but not yet a woman, isn't that a song?

Oh well, I had so much fun, and I am so thankful that Lisa and her friends included me in their little festivities. Dinner was really good, and the guy I was sitting next to was a little taken aback that I was drinking, which was funny, and embarrassing. I guess I'll be thankful for my youthful looks as I get older. After dinner, Madeline (Lisa's daughter) and I played some Indiana Jones game for Wii... and we had so much fun, and kind of lost track of time playing it. I ate waaaay too many iced sugar cookies shaped like stars, but I figure that that's okay- it's a national holiday. Around nine, we bundled up and headed outside, where one of the guys was JUGGLING FIRE... I don't think I've ever really seen that before, it was crazy! Then we walked up a really steep hill to watch the fireworks. It must've been 50 degrees out... I was freezing! I sat with the younger girls and we all were joking the entire time... it was a pretty boring show. I left after the show and as I was driving home, kids would light firecrackers in the street as I drove by... it was kind of scary! And as I drove up to my house, a little family was standing in the street lighting off fireworks in a can. I really do live in the ghetto!

Independence Day always makes me really proud that I'm related to Thomas Jefferson, thank you.