I know the 4th if July is over but I wanted to share my feelings, and some then and now observations.
I’m one of those people that adores the 4th of July. I love food grilling, people chatting and conversing about their lives, and children playing in the background. The 4th of July just has one of those non-family feelings that means there isn’t any stress like some of our other holidays even if you are getting together with family. I wonder why that is. Hmmm I don’t know, and I”m not going to answer that particular question but if you’d like to give me your opinion I’d love to hear your feedback.
But while I watch the wildly vivid fireworks off of my rooftop apartment complex I’m realizing how much firework displays have changed through my life time. When I was a kid when you went to a city firework show you nearly always walked away wanting more. My childhood was filled with dreams of fireworks being more like the opening of “The Love Boat” if you’re old enough you’ll remember or “Love American Style” but we’d go to the park, lay out our blankets, pull out our white bread baloney sandwiches and Kool-aid, and wait for the show to begin. The show would begin with a bang; one really big firework that filled the sky. Then maybe in 3-5 minutes there would be another (but of course as a child 3 minutes felt like an hour) and so on for 15 minutes. It was slow and tedious but every time the sky filled with sparkling color it filled my child head with awe. The grand finale was about 10 fireworks (more like 5 probably) that filled the sky one at a time in a 1 -2 minute succession. I was disappointed. I wanted the sky to be filled non-stop with fireworks.
Let’s move a head to today. I watch fireworks now and they are amazing! When the grand finale is over I walk away with a sense of satisfaction that feels so full of contentment that it’s nearly perfect. 
I don’t wish for more, and I don’t wish for less. While I’m waiting for the fireworks to begin I can see all the other communities around Denver shooting off theirs and they’re even better than my childhood fireworks. I’m sure one of the reasons fireworks have improved is because they are now computerized, and cities can afford more of them.
For whatever the reason my fireworks contentment monitor has gone up exponentially since I was younger and it isn’t because my expectations have decreased. I just LOVE fireworks no doubt and now that they are as wonderful as they are imagined in my head I love them even more.
