A 50's Fourth of July

I have so many wonderful memories of 4th of Julys, when I was growing up. It was really a holiday to look forward to. After the war, we really celebrated in our neighborhood. Many families there, had just moved in after the men came home from the war. This was a very patriotic time for our country. Everyone was working, people were buying their first homes, we were all in the same boat. We all displayed flags...flags lined the downtown streets...cemeteries had flags on all the graves...parades with flags. People were emotional, watching the flag go by. Grown men had tears in their eyes. Women always brought a hankie to the parade. We lived in a small town neighborhood called Sunset Park. Grimes Grocery, just up the street, allowed someone to open a fireworks stand in their parking lot. It was a short bike ride away from our house. I can remember looking at all the things that would go bang... everything smelled like gunpowder. I was a girl and wasn't supposed to like that sort of thing, but I wanted those lady fingers and snakes so bad. Dad came home from work... the morning before the 4th. He loved to see his little girl smile. He put his hand in his pocket and brought out a five dollar bill. I was to spend it on fireworks. I went up to Grimes Grocery and checked out what I could buy for five dollars, as soon as I had that bill in my hand. I had enough for all the fireworks that I wanted and still had money left over for a cherry coke at the corner drug store. I brought my bag of goodies home.. and being an only child at the time...I didn't have to share. ( I have to add this note....My brother was born the next year)The neighbor boy came over in the afternoon, and we shot off our fireworks together. Our sidewalk had black stains all over from the snakes. Later that night we had sparklers to play with. Our neighbor, Mr. Reed, who was a car salesman...bought a whole bunch of fireworks and shared them with the neighborhood. We all brought our lawn chairs (ours were those heavy metal chairs that tipped over easily...bright yellow) and blankets and sat on the lawn watching his display. Several commented that our neighborhood display was as good as the town's display. Some of the women shared lemonade and homemade cookies. There was no instant lemonade in those days. The lemonade was made with "lemons" and the chocolate chip cookies were called Toll House Cookies. Dad didn't have to work the next day, so he could enjoy the festivities with us. The 4th of July found us out in the yard, watching a neighborhood parade of decorated bikes and dressed up pets. Now, in those days crepe paper didn't come cut in convenient narrow rolls. It had to be cut and this took a lot of time to get them just so. My bike was blue and I had red crepe paper twisted through the spokes of the tires. Streamers were flying from the handlebars. A clothespin and a playing card were attached to the bike and clicked on the spokes, as I rode my bike. My basket was decorated too and held a teddy bear with a red and white outfit. My Dad helped me decorate the bike. I don't remember who won the prize, but I felt like a winner. My Dad was king that year... at our house. He showed his love by giving this girl some memories she'll never forget.

Balisha