Fireworks Bonanza!

4th of July was exciting. We read about Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show and the planned 120,000 EXPLOSIONS of fire! It is the world's largest fireworks display and there is accompanying music and performances.

I got my hair did and my face did to go out (mainly I had Big spray no-water-shampoo into my hair and I used a hand sanitizing wipe to wash my face). Then it started to rain. Still traumatized by the Central Park run in the rain, I talked Big into staying in and watching the fireworks from the roof of her building. I convinced her that there was no point sitting in the rain for hours with no guarantee of a good view when we can just go up to her roof with food and beverages and in our pajamas.

At 9 PM, NBC started broadcasting performances and the beginning of the fireworks bonanza! It started off with a huge blast when Gavin DeGraw sang the national anthem (this is dripping with sarcasm because it was the most dramatic thing I've ever witnessed, with the exception of Ann Coulter trying to explain why she's not the devil). The broadcast was supposed to end at 10 PM, so we figured fireworks would start at about 9:40.

We were in the kitchen shoveling food in our mouths. Big had a box of Cheeze-Its and I had a container of guac (I notice that I probably use the word "guac" almost as much as the word "me," which is a lot). I was trying to think of what else I could put guac on and Big was trying to make her dog dance for a cheesy human treat when we heard the fireworks countdown. With mouths full of food, we ran for the door. Sprinting down the hallway (I am pretty sure I had on flip flops and Big had on no flops), we ran for the elevator. Not knowing which ones went to the roof, and at my insistence that we were missing EVERYTHING, we took the stairs.

14 flights later... driven and inspired by my screeching that I was missing the celebration of my 8th favorite holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, New Years, Halloween, Foxfields, Chinese New Year), we sprinted up. Though there were moments where we sat down to die/I laid down sprawled in between flights, we made it to the roof, welcomed by the burst and explosion of lights in the sky!

There was already a crowd and I used my stealthy ninja ways to find the perfect place for us - in front of a group of small children. As the night sky filled with the colors and power and beauty of 120,000 EXPLOSIONS of fire, tears trickled down my face. Not tears of joy or tears from any sort of emotion, but tears from laughing so hard.

We couldn't see a GD thing because the building next to us was taller and in the way.

Running back inside, we took an elevator down with a group of people. The elderly woman dominated conversation in the elevator, talking about this and that and other nonsense like how fireworks attire should be formal wear or something else that I probably made up. They got off on the same floor, and Big and I tried to walk down the hall. As soon as they rounded the corner in the other direction, we took off, pushing each other into walls in an all out brawl to get back into the apartment first.

Thankfully the fireworks were still on. Unfortunately, I couldn't bask in the utter gracefulness of the celebrations because the camera kept cutting away to the audience. All these little kids looked so stupid with their open mouths and their shiney bright eyes filled with what NBC wanted to be interpreted as hope and patriotic fervor. Instead, they all just looked stoned.