A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Monday, July 1, 2013

A Loving 4th of July


I can't top this post of memories from the 40's and 50's...so I am repeating it this year. 4th of July's still remain almost the same as in years past. Fireworks, parades, picnic food and family get togethers. The only thing that I can see that has changed is the showing of patriotism, by flying the flag. It seems that sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring out our patriotism....like after 9/11. Everyone showed their love for America by flying flags at that time. Wish we could get that back without the tragedy.


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

8 comments:

Gardener on Sherlock Street said...

You really did the all out star spangled 4th!

Blondie's Journal said...

What a sweet nostalgic post, I truly wish I had lived in those days. You caught the wonder and excitement in your written words and you father sounds like he was a wonderful man.

I hope you have a great 4th this year! And let those flags fly strong!

XO,
Jane

Judy said...

I too wish we could get back the patriotism we had when we were kids and young people--after 9/11, I was amazed that every house or store I drove by had a flag flying. I miss that kind of feeling in our country.

Margie's Musings said...

Yes, you did.

Nowadays I don't like the fireworks. The kids don't just set them off on the 4th like they did when we were kids but now they start even before the 1st of the month.

Pat said...

Very sweet post...

Life at Still Woods said...

Thank you for sharing your wonderful memories. I was especially touched by the mention of men with tears in their eyes. My first memory of a 4th of July parade would have been in the mid 1960's and we lived in Rockland, Maine. I remember how exciting it was to see the American Legion Post come strolling by with flags waving. Special memories.
Blessings from Still Woods Farmhouse

debra @ HOMESPUN said...

A wonderful article! :) Happy 4th to you :)

garden girl said...

What wonderful memories Balisha! I'm glad you re-posted this. I grew up in the 60's, and our 4th of July celebrations sound a lot like yours. Those were the days! It is really neat though, that the 4th is still celebrated by so many with family picnics, neighborhood get-togethers, and lots of shared homemade dishes.