Fourth of July (2011)

I don't remember the last time I saw Fourth of July fireworks up close and personal. I think that my son was a small child at the time, burying his head in my lap, so that would make it around 30 years ago. I do love fireworks, but I have no patience for the traffic and the hordes of people who go to the free town fireworks displays. While others like the sense of community, I don't live in a communal small town. You probably wouldn't see a single person you knew by name.

Luckily, we live outside of Boston, so every Fourth of July, we curl up in our living room, put on the TV, watch the Boston Pops concert, complete with the 1812 Overture we can probably now hum from beginning to end and watch the fireworks over the Charles River. HDTV does a pretty good job of showing off the gorgeous colors, and fireworks of this caliber are ones my town could never afford. But still, at the end, when the last flicker has fallen from the sky, there's that wisfulness than I an not there, but at home observing from a distance, separated by the technology that made it possible to view in the first place.

Next year, maybe, just maybe, we will go to the Museum of Science in Boston, where members can congregate on the roof of the parking garage overlooking the Charles River and watch the fireworks...up close the personal...just once.