Week 10 and another 4th of July in Japan

Week 10 was fairly uneventful baby-wise, which is good news.  He or she is growing rapidly and my belly is poking out a bit more now… But since this past week has been so uneventful in that arena, I’ll write about something else.

Alan and I celebrated our second 4th of July in Japan this past week and while Independence Day is one of my two favorite holidays, it’s been a little bittersweet to celebrate here.  Now that I think of it, this is actually my third 4th of July in Japan as I travelled here during college to study…I remember also being a little homesick for America then as well.

I think my yearning to be in the states on this holiday is really pretty natural…I mean, it is one of America’s most fundamental days and it is just not the same trying to enjoy it somewhere else.  It always makes me ache for my own country.  Besides the huge political and cultural statement that the 4th of July is for me, it is also a significantly social one.  Independence Day to me is pool parties with friends and fireworks with family, floating down rivers with Alan and Steve and watching my sister chase lightning bugs while I sip on a cold beer.  It’s brats and burgers and macaroni salad…waterskiing on the lake during the oh so hot Arizona days and trips to the bars at night.  All these images run through my mind on the 4th of July and I can’t help but wish Alan and I could spend this holiday in America.

Since we cannot, however, be back with you all in the states we do the best we can here.  The base spent thirty thousand dollars on fireworks this year and we had lots of people over for a barbecue.  I made a variety of things, grilled fish and shrimp, brats, ribs and even some fried rice and egg rolls since we are, after all, in Japan.  Alan bought some Shinerbock beer for our guests, also my favorite type of beer, although it will be a while before I’m able to partake again!  So, we had a good time hanging out with friends, but I sure missed all of my family.

I remember when my brother and I were little and my dad still lived in Missouri…in the same town as my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and my cousins.  Independence Day began to be my favorite holiday then and I think it’s because all of those important people were there to make it so special for all of us.  I wonder now if they knew then what strong memories we would always have of that day each year.  The 4th of July always started about a month early for my brother, my cousins and myself.  My dad would drive us across the state border so that we could buy the really fun fireworks for us kids…sparklers and black cats …and the really big ones for my dad and uncle and for everyone else to watch.  We’d go buy all these fireworks and then we’d have to wait for the big day to set them all off.  For me, it was always better than Christmas.

The night before Independence Day, I always had trouble sleeping and my dad always seemed to know this.  He’d come into my bedroom and together we’d go and wake my brother up for a midnight swim and a root beer float. Ha! Midnight swims and root beer floats well past your bed time!!!  Those were the best nights ever.

When the 4th finally did arrive my brother, cousins and I would swim all day in my dad’s pool, killing time before the sun went down and before the big show began.  At dusk, my brother, dad, grandparents and I would all head over to my Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Chris’s house.  They had a huge driveway and a big yard that I think was deemed safest for our firework explosions.  I’d dance around the yard with sparkler after sparkler while Mike set off all the M-80’s and black cats…I have no idea how he never blew a finger off or still has any of his hearing left.  But I think if you asked him, he’d say the risk was well worth it.  My dad and Uncle Chris would light bottle rockets and the ones that made the huge, multi-colored designs in the sky.  I remember wanting those nights to last forever and that I would literally fall asleep out in the yard in a futile attempt to stay awake a little longer.  My dad would have to carry me home I’d be so exhausted by the end of the evening.

In short, I love the 4th of July anywhere…but I love it most of all in America.  It is a holiday celebrating independence and pride and there is no other country that celebrates either of those like the United States.  

Japan is nice…but America is…well, America.