Fourth of July: always greatly anticipated, extensively advertised, and meticulously planned for to achieve prime firework-viewing, barbeque-hosting, celebratory-drinking, and strict adherence to red-white-and-blue-wearing. Or, as one of my best friends, Liza fondly, refers to it: the exceedingly overhyped “New Year’s Eve of July.”
This phrase is used to describe the phenomenon of having overly high expectations for an event that, if planned well, could have the potential to be one of the best and most frequently reminisced on days of one’s summer. Personally, when I picture celebrating the anniversary of America’s independence, I daydream of floating around in a pool with a magically-refilling drink in the cupholder of my obnoxiously luxurious inflatable. And then maybe I watch the fireworks up close from a friend’s large boat, wind up at a bonfire on a private beach we accidentally stumble upon, and party through the night with our sparklers ( of course, we get some really good Instagrams out of it). Oh, and in this daydream, I’m also wearing the cutest, not tacky at all, American flag bikini. Then, my friends and I will reflect back on our kick-ass fourth of July for the rest of the summer and sigh, yearning for next years’ to come quicker.
Yeah, no. First of all, I’ve never been able to find a cute not-completely-tacky American flag bathing suit. I really feel like this the necessary ingredient to the cliche Fourth of July that I’ve always been lacking. Second of all, if you are one of the blessed people with a pool, or a boat, or an accessible beach or lake house that you’re allowed to bring friends to and throw parties, or you have a friend with any of the above, then you really need to appreciate how lucky you truly are when it comes to times such as July 4th. You have it easy. There’s not a bigger buzzkill than realizing the only option you have is to pay $50 to park your car in the parking lot at the beach and then sit sandwiched between young families with crying babies frightened by the fireworks.
Similarly to New Year’s Eve, The Fourth of July is a holiday that comes with high expectations, and unless you have it easy, the actual event will typically fall short of your expectations. Yes, I’ve had some pretty great Fourth of July’s throughout the years. Although most of this nostalgia comes from when my parents had it all planned out for us - it was either a cookout in the cul de sac with our tight-knit crew of neighbors, the kids riding bikes around and around the circle with fingers and faces sticky from our melty firecracker popsicles, or packing up a picnic to watch fireworks on the hill where all young families go in our town. I know I’ve spent the majority of this article seeming jaded, but that’s not what I mean. I’ve just enjoyed and appreciated this particular holiday a lot more when it was centered around family and the small joys that came in the form of hearing the ice cream truck’s jubilant (and now somewhat creepy-sounding) tune from down the street, lighting up a sparkler and frantically attempting to spell out your name in the matte darkness, and watching in wonder the display of twinkling light falling from the sky in perfection synchronization, heart thumping a little harder with every pop and boom.
Now, my family tends to go our separate ways for this holiday. The fireworks have lost a bit of their excitement and luster, and the focus shifts to “we need to party so hard today;” and most of the time, these teenage fantasies and notions we have in our heads don’t play out as imagined and thus, the Fourth of July turns into the cousin of NYE, somewhat of a letdown in comparison but a holiday we will never stop looking forward to, because this year might be the year that something incredible and spontaneous happens. But for now, the goal should be to take enjoyment in the small things this holiday: a firecracker popsicle, writing your name in sparklers, and spending time with the ones that make you laugh.
