Happy 4th of July!

I decided this morning that the 4th of July is my second-favorite holiday. Christmas is first, but today is a very close second. I’m sure a big part of my love of this day is the fact that it’s summer, and the weather is usually pretty nice, as it was today. But another big part of it’s high ranking is the Brookfield 4th of July parade.

I suppose compared to other parades around the country it’s pretty average. We don’t get a lot of celebrities. We get the mayor, some alderpeople, a senator (local) or two, maybe a news person, and usually the current Junior Miss. We have fire engines, ambulances, the Fun-loving Grannies, the square dancing group, the Wacky Wheeler, and antique cars. Some jugglers, unicycle riders, bagpipe players, and Noah’s old karate school make their way down the road. There are the animals: a long-horn steer (which made me a bit nervous-can the one guy holding the rope really control this huge animal with very pointy horns if it gets spooked???), a zebra/mule hybrid, and a camel (which thankfully pooped about 50 yards before it got to us, followed closely behind by a Brookfield waste management truck with some guy who drew the short straw there to scoop up the poop!). And as always, there’s the candy. We made quite the haul this year-lots of Tootsie Rolls, Dum-Dum suckers, and Double Bubble gum.

But the best part of the parade is how excited Noah and Caden get. They love every bit of it. They wave, yell, cheer, clap and dance as the different groups pass us by. They stuff their faces with candy until I’m sure their teeth will rot. They respectfully take off their hats as the flag passes us. Most importantly, they’re smiling almost the entire time.

Someday, we’ll get more into the real reason for the celebrations we have today. Why we get to sit along the side of the road and feel that swell of pride as the flag is carried past us by a veteran of some war. Why we have fireworks and what they symbolize. Why we are so fortunate to have the freedoms and luxuries we often take for granted. And hopefully they’ll appreciate and love this day even more.