wordy wednesday...fireworks {july 5, 2023}

My dad loved the 4th of July. When it came to fireworks, he was like a wide-eyed little kid in a candy store and came home with a trunk full of sparklers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, zizz bangs, skyrockets, and parachutes from his trek to the Fireworks SuperCenter on Union Road. Our 4th of July celebrations were always fun and noisy! Dad died 21 years ago on July 2 and it makes me smile that his send off from this earth was filled with firework displays from all over the USA.

Firework displays remind me a lot of life. How sometimes it seems as though we spend forever looking up at a dark sky, waiting for something amazing to happen. Waiting, hoping, praying that any second it will come to life with all the colors we've worked so hard to find. Sometimes we'll find them. Sometimes the sky will awaken in ways we've never imagined and we'll find ourselves drowning in wonder and gratitude. Other times, the sky will stay dark and we'll sit out there in our lawn chairs, waiting and waiting for the colors to come.

We've all been there. Waiting. Craning our necks up at a dusky sky, hoping for nightfall to bring something incredible. We've been there when there were fireworks and when there was silence. We've left awed. We've left disappointed. No matter how long the sky stays dark, it will come to life again, sometimes in ways we expect, sometimes in ways we don't, sometimes in grand displays, sometimes in small, beautiful flashes. The important thing is to keep looking and seeking.

🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆 🎆

Stars and spangles light up the sky, 

No wonder kids love fireworks spectacle in July. 

A boom, a trail of smoke, and then a loud pop, 

Colorful sparkles spread out fast and drop. 

One after another, each twinkles and dies, 

Then crashes like a bomb, and the next one flies. 

Then all too soon comes the grand finale, 

Wave after wave, like an electrified tsunami. 

And then it's all over and all is quiet, 

There's a beautiful stillness where there once was a riot. 

And clouds of sulfurous smoke in the air, 

Are all that's left to show that fireworks were there.

~ Author unknown