‘Smoke on the water, fire in the sky’
I decided to wander down to my podunk beach town’s Fourth of July celebration last night.
Now, I’m used to seeing eleventy billion food/activity booths and then just as many people cramming themselves into a space meant for half as many people to watch the pyrotechnics. In other words, there’s shit to do.
Not here. Two burger/dog tents, two booze tents and a band on the beach. That had an unnecessary apostrophe. (A “blue’s band.” Sigh.)
The smaller celebration was a welcome change, though, given that it only took me 10 minutes to drive home. 🙂
I was working most of the day yesterday, and when I got ready to go out, I was ready to go out. The OEH had been hovering, hoping I’d take her somewhere. I overheard her on her phone telling people, “Well, she SAYS she’s working, but I don’t know.”
So I was ready to roll around 3 and, it killed me, but I asked if she wanted to go with. She said no. I hung out for a bit because I know her — she has to be begged.
But a half-hour later, as she was curling her hair for the third time that day, I asked if she was getting ready to go out. She said no, that’s OK, I’m fine. You go ahead.
You don’t gotta tell me twice! *poof*
I was three streets away when she called to say she changed her mind. I was all, WTF? Of course, she blamed it on her phone not working right that the call didn’t come through sooner.
I remembered what one of my boys told me yesterday, to think of my “independance” — that it’s a dance and I have to take the lead to get my freedom.
So I said I wasn’t coming back. And that she could take a cab if she wanted. (‘Cause I’m “MEAN”!)
She didn’t.
As for me, at this point I had five hours to kill before fireworks. (Yes, I could have gone back home. But I didn’t WANT to. I don’t know how to make it any more obvious that I am SO OVER HER SHIT.) I ducked into all the little boutique shops and enjoyed glasses of Blue Moon and pina coladas out on the A1A, which was closed to traffic.
I had a bathing suit in the trunk of my car but opted to leave it there. Instead I just sat on the beach for hours and people-watched.
By the time the fireworks started at 9 p.m., I was practically sitting in the ocean, as I had the best seat on the beach except for the clown who decided to stand in the water, blocking my view and getting in the way of the only good photo I got (this one!).
I have to say, as a former city girl, I was skeptical that the fireworks display would be anything amazing. But TD Bank employees were milling around, handing out 3-D glasses. I scoffed at it, but tried it. OMG, it was AWESOME. I have some photos where I put the glasses over the lens and they turned out so trippy.
Who knew — these small-town folks know how to throw a shindig after all! The way I figure, I will probably have moved by this time next year, so I should enjoy where I am, while I’m here. And yes, for a few hours, I stopped hating Florida. Win!