Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021 - 8

MILL CREEK STORIES
Fireworks
July 4 is a wondrous holiday, and can set the stage for further detonations.
By MOLLY DUGGER BRENNAN | Illustration by JOSEPH MACKERETH
et me explain why I am in love with the 4th
of July. It's a life-long love affair and one I
don't see ending. The holiday has some serious
hoopla about it and I love a celebration of
epic proportions. I mean, Christmas is lovely
but a family gathering around an indoor tree
opening gifts pales in comparison to an entire
community getting together for the day ending with a
spectacular fireworks display. Am I right?
July 4th first convinced me of its merits when I was a
L
child. Big groups of people gathered for cookouts. There
is practically nothing cooked over charcoal that I won't
eat, I love cookouts so much. I think I'd eat a charcoal
grilled sock if you basted it properly. Everyone brought a
side dish, so you had a choice of like 14 different macaroni
and cheese casseroles alone.
I will judge the merit of your character by your macaroni
and cheese. Even as a tadpole in central Virginia,
I knew enough to look for Mrs. Davenport's Pyrex casserole
dish and avoid some others, bless their hearts.
There was one woman, who shall remain unnamed, in
our church who went through a raisin phase and put
raisins in everything. I remember the day she showed up
to the church social with raisins in her collard greens.
You would have thought she'd walked up to Jesus himself
and smacked him in the face by the uproar. Collard
greens are not " experimental. "
My childhood 4th of July was a whole day of delicious
food, running around with sparklers, getting a little
sunburned, playing with friends and then watching
what I now know was a truly modest firework display
but then I thought it was absolutely amazing. Actually,
8 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
no matter how budget-minded a firework event is, I will
still adore it. What is not to like about sparkling, colorful
magic? Although as I get older and meet more people
with PTSD from Iraq and Afghanistan, I think omitting
the " booms " and noises from the display is a fine idea.
Then came my young professional days and I saw a
truly impressive fireworks display that everyone should
experience once in their lives. I am talking about the
all-day event in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall.
Oh my, words cannot contain that experience. Music
and dancing, performers that you could never afford to
go see at a concert all for free, a sense of national unity
and goodwill, fabulous food smells from vendors, and
then as dusk settles, the most impressive, lengthy fireworks
display I have ever oohed-and-awed over. Amazing.
Every other firework display I've seen pales in comparison.
Every other July 4th is lightweight compared to
that one. That is, until one very special Fourth.
Being five and having my heart and mind opened
to the wonders of being awed laid the groundwork for
my best Fourth ever. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I was sitting in the back seat of a pink Cadillac
convertible with my very best friend, in the Tunnel of
Vows at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas,
getting married by none other than Charolette Richards
herself-the legendary Queen of wedding officiants,
having married hundreds of thousands of couples
including a boat load of celebrities, even Sinatra-at
the drive-through window, on the 4th of July. The fireworks
were all within that Cadillac but they were real,
they were ours, and even more magnificent than any
from childhood.
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Blue Ridge Country July/August 2021

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