Live July 4th Thread: Share Your Celebrations with FR!!!

July 4, 2002

[Howlin]

Share your 4th of July experiences and thoughts with the rest of us!

[TxBec]

I went to the parade at our county seat and saw Gov. Rick Perry give his speech. The outpouring of patriotism was wonderful. God bless our wonderful country.

[Howlin]

It's hot here, but we had a big turnout for the downtown Raleigh celebration.

Now I'm home, flipping between the D.C. show (horrible) and Boston (wonderful, as usual!)

[Trust but Verify]

Went ot the local parade this morning, theen to Milwaukee's lakefront for a 'little' thing called Summerfest. Had a couple of brews, listened to some great local music talent. In awhile we're going to our fireworks show. The heat has finally broken here, and I think I'll need a sweatshirt! Eat your heart out, Easterners!

[dts32041]

Went to work, still am in fact.

[The Chief]

I'm watching Yankee Doodle Dandy, one of my favorite movies!

[Howlin]

I wanted to share a letter from our local paper today:

Thursday, July 4, 2002 5:30AM EDT LETTER

---

A patriotic score

I have never considered myself to be a person who would write something of a patriotic nature, but I guess a lot has changed in the past year. The experience that prompted me to write occurred when a friend and my son accompanied me to a Carolina Cobras game at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in early June.

The National Anthem was announced and a little girl who appeared to be about 9 or 10 began to sing from midfield. She had a beautiful voice but began to falter a little and then came to a complete stop about midway through the anthem. There was no musical accompaniment, so the building, with an estimated 8,000 fans, became overwhelmingly silent for about 10 seconds.

I was fearing the worst -- boos, catcalls, etc. -- when the fans, apparently including those from whom I expected the negative response, began singing at the point where the young singer left off. The volume began to rise and the singer jumped back in and hit her stride. By the end, the arena went ballistic, players from both teams were shaking the little girl's hand and hugging her, and what could have been a traumatic experience was transformed into something unbelievable positive over the course of a few short minutes.

I wasn't sure what I was feeling the most at the time, pride for our country or a sense of thankfulness for the good nature exhibited by the fans toward this lovely and brave young lady. Whatever it was, it was an experience that will be treasured and always recalled whenever I join in the singing -- with renewed enthusiasm -- of the anthem.

XXXXXXXX

Garner

graphic stolen from lysander13135

[Howlin]

What channel? My mom was looking for that today!

[TxBec]

I'm about to head out for the fireworks.. and my sons are harping that they want to go out and light their sparklers.. Have a great evening!!

[Paul Atreides]

[Howlin]

Bump!

[WIMom]

I can't believe you went to Summerfest! I have stopped going there for the fourth since the crowds have been at least 300,000. (It's locally known as bummerfest)

We went to our local community parade, then tonight, the gang (teenagers and young college students) will climb on our roof to watch our local version of fireworks, followed by our traditional bon fire. This is the annual burning of our Christmas tree and all the other accumulated leaves, twigs, fallen branches, and other such items. It's a blast living in the country!

[Militiaman7]

Enjoying FREEDOM

Watching fireworks later.

[LonePalm]

I just went to the grocery store here on the Jersey Shore about an hour ago. As I was walking in I heard the sound of a jet that sounded a bit low. It was a jet but not an average one.

It was an F-117A Stealth Fighter that banked around the store and headed back north towards NYC. He was probably tooling around getting some air time before a flyover up around the city.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Howlin]

What a great idea!

[Howlin]

Me, too! Ain't life grand?

[Howlin]

What a different world we live in!

[Trust but Verify]

Yes, we went at 1PM and left around 6 when it was getting really crowded. Normally we wouldn't have been there today, either, but the whole extended family is out of town so we were orphaned.

But, my Lord, didn't it get nice out today? We were so tired of being cooped up in the house. We could not have asked for a better day to celebrate our Independance!

Enjoy the fire!

[Huck]

Happy Independence Day!

Today my wife and I took our new canoe out for a spin. Went bass fishing:

Caught him on a chartruese and white spinnerbait.

We paddled around. Drank beers. Ate a sub sandwich. Smoked cigars. Fun in the sun, with no radio, or tv, or anything.

Got back a little while ago. We've got the Giants-Dbacks on TV with the sound down, listening to some bluegrass tunes (Russ Barenberg, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer.) In a minute I'll throw some steak on the grill. Later on we'll go outside and shoot off some cheap fireworks.

This is a freaking GLORIOUS country. I can't possibly love it any more than I already do. I hope everyone is having a great time.

[Alouette]

For the translation of "Prayer for the United States" Click here