July 4: Declarations of Inter-Dependence

July 4, 2015

July 10, 2015 edition

Somewhere down the line, celebrating our country’s independence morphed into ways we celebrate our inter-dependence with each other. As much as we look to the heavens for blooms of aerial pyrotechnics, we connect with each other on terra firma in long standing traditions of our own. I’ll bet many of you have versions of the one I just celebrated with the same gang with whom I’ve marked the occasion with for thirty years.

The recreation of the late afternoon party is as reliably predictable as the cadences of a John Philips Sousa march…from the little things like reprises of some of the same great appetizers adorned with teensy American flags, the grilled hot dogs and burgers, chips and dips, cold drinks of every construction, followed by the reliably tasty chocolate chip cookies, homemade brownies, and the massive fruit compote, to the big things like the people around the table (now two tables!) and the years we've spent reconnecting for hours before fireworks and watching the 'kids' grow up and begin families of their own.

This day’s presence of an 18 month old and a two year old certainly made a hit with all and reminded me of what seems like not so long ago that the “kids” who are now their parents had the same effect on us.  And now we talk to them as grown ups. We’ve graduated from a two-generation party to a four-generation party, many of us now grand parents. How did that happen? Permanence and a sense of the fleeting of time mingle like the smoke from the grill and the clouds of exploded fireworks overhead.

The sense of conviviality and instant connection between us bursts out much the same as one of those lovely cascading firework displays that colorfully bloom overhead and shower down in slow motion fading in luminosity as they cascade to earth...much like the party itself, burns brightly, illuminating us all for moments of traditional festivity then dissipates, ready to bloom again when we reconvene next July 4.

Photo by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. iPhone5

Comments

[Neal Skorka]

Lovely Paul. Simply lovely.

[Paul and Melanie]

You summed it up perfectly!

[David]

Thanks, Paulito-thoughtful and beautifully written.

[David B, your neighbor!]

I truly enjoyed this sweet essay. Your thoughts parallel some of my own July Fourth gatherings and experiences over many decades. That holiday is redolent of family & friends in my long-ago past that I feel a particular nostalgia for such happy memories.

Thank you for evoking the pleasures of the Fourth of July traditions so expressively wel