Eh, you know, Fourth of July is one of those holidays for me that was cooler in Oklahoma. My brother and I would go to the fireworks stand and buy a shit-ton of fountains and explosives and such, and my dad would always get us an artillery shell. Then we'd go to our granpa's cabin on Lake Eufala and have our own private fireworks show every night. There was also cards, dominoes, hiking, comics reading, lake-swimming. Other years we'd go to a family farm or something like that, or canoeing on the Illinois river.

Every Fourth I've had living in an urban area has been eh! Big fireworks shows with thousands of people just sitting around do little for me. I think of it as a country holiday - a part of being country I miss, like swimming holes and dragonflies and fireflies and riding my cousins' ponies.