Back in the Maelstrom

Boy, talk about hitting the ground running, or jumping back into the vortex (whichever cliche you prefer). We went away for a few days to visit family and immediately immersed ourselves in the madness that we know as life. Then again, what else are we going to do with all of our free time?

We were off in Ohio visiting mom's parents and it was a nice stay though it's always nice to get back home. This time around we returned and pretty much from the moment we made it back we were rushing around to make it to assorted events. We had missed the big 4th of July parade that is an institution in this town but returned in time to catch the fireworks, which in my opinion are very well done. Maybe it's because we're so close, but the show is pretty impressive and really fun to watch. It is loud, though.

The fireworks usually start at dark, which falls around 9:00-9:30. We landed in Boston about 5:00 and caught the shuttle back to the hotel to get our car. We were thinking of just heading home, which would have given us a cushion of time, but some of us were hungry and wanted to get Cambodian food at our favorite restaurant in the city, Thmor Da. It meant getting home later, but the opportunity doesn't come around often, so we seized the moment. We had supper of killer spicy noodles and then made the long trek home. We were exhausted, traveling is tough in New England because once you land you often have to finish the trip in the car or bus, and it usually takes about 2-3 hours. We walked through our front door about 8:45, which meant we had about 10 minutes to unload the car and head over to the rec center for the fireworks.

We got there just at dark and staked out a spot. One thing about living in small town is that you get to see lots of people you know, and sure enough we were surrounded by friends and neighbors, which is nice. We chatted and caught up, and within about 30 minutes the fireworks began. What a great show, it's really impressive, and again, since it's so close, it's booming loud. Once the show was over we had one more thing to do. A had given her guitar to one of the sound engineers SH at the Dojo to fix the tuning, and we were supposed to pick it up (I was, actually) the previous week but forgot. We arranged to meet him at the fireworks show because A needed her guitar the very next day for her big musical. Needless to say, this was a bit of a challenge considering there were hundreds, if not thousands of people out there watching the fireworks.

Amazingly enough, we found him and got her guitar. We had to walk over the lot, which we managed to avoid, and got to see how crazy the scene actually was. For the record, it's a big event and people come from all around, but this year they left tons of garbage on the ground, and I seemed to notice people all around me smoking cigarettes. Kind of a bummer.

In the end, we got to see the fireworks, got A's guitar, and made it home safely, so all is well. The next day A had her first day of rehearsals for the big musical that she's in, so there was no time to really catch our breath. Then again, who needs to breathe?

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to rosa for the pic.