July 4th... Whats All the Fuss About?

well tomorrows the big day, the 4th of July

and as usual I am not excited, I don't have an outfit picked out, and I have no plans. Please don't have a heart attack, this is completely normal for me. The bottom line is I just don't do the 4th of July. I grew up over seas and I went to camps all over Europe in the summer so we didn't have a big celebration. maybe a few people would wear flag t-shirts, but that's about it. So when I finally had my first 4th of July here in the US I was a camp counselor. My girls were very excited and everyone wore red white and blue. we even had red white a blue grits for breakfast (the counselors all ate white grits as we didn't want to have blue or read mouths for the rest of the day). We had regular activities and that night we attempted to have a fire works show, but we managed to set the mountain on fire, so that was interesting.

Since that fateful 4th, I have run the peachtree road race most years then come home to nurse my blisters and eat leftovers. I have never been invited to a big BBQ or party. Last year I drove to SC to spend the holiday with my best friend Julie, and we went to her small town festival and watched the fire works. It was a lot of fun, but I still fail to see the point of it all.

I may sound unpatriotic, and to some extent I am. Growing up, being labeled an American wasn't always a good thing. People tended to assume we were loud and rude and annoying so we all did our best to blend it. We lost our accents (which I quickly regained when I moved back to the south - but I still don't sound "American") we would only hang the flag outside on special days, and we did not celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks and BBQ. Normally we would go to Italy for a week and often the day would pass by and we wouldn't even remember it.

So now, here I am, living in the US, the day before the 4th of July and I have nothing planned and I'm not excited. Please don't think that I don't support my country, I hold an American passport, but living overseas (off base / non military) kind of drains you of that all American gusto for the holiday. I have made my annual donation to our soldiers (Old Navy Flip Flops and gift boxes to my friends overseas).

Perhaps this year, with JAB with me, I will have a real fourth of July, and maybe not. But I wish you all a safe and fun holiday.