A Fourth of July Memory

This Fourth of July holiday stirred memories of this same day ‌forty-eight years ago. That day was the big US celebration of the Bicentennial--200 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. I was fifteen years old.

My memory of the 1976 Fourth of July was that of a quiet, boring day in the country. Once again, Dad was hiding out in Pittsburgh leaving Mom and me to ourselves. We lived in a new mobile home that was parked on an isolated eight acres of former orchards between Delmont and New Alexandria, Pa. The orchards had long ago run wild. Only a few peach trees remained but red apples and yellow apples were everywhere. There is nothing like the absolute joy of climbing a tree, sitting in the branches and plucking a ripe apple to eat.

I remember the day as hot and sunny. While records show the temperature during the day was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit and the skies cloudy, my memory could be faulty but I remember the sun beating down on me from blue skies while I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner. I built a small outdoor grill from some bricks and an oven rack. The improvised grill worked out well enough and I lost none of the food to the charcoal.

I thought about mowing the wild grass that sprung like clumps from what was our front yard. We had an electric mower at that time. It had to be plugged in so I was always strung along ‌in front of lengthy extension cords. I remember the garden of yellow and red marigolds I planted in front of our mobile home blooming like mad. It was very quiet that day. Hardly any cars passed by on the gravel and tar, one lane road that passed by out front. I do miss the silence of country life. Only the sounds of nature all around. I would mow on a different day. I was too busy running in and out to cook and catch things on television.

Mom was inside watching television on one of the three clear channels we could receive over the air. I think WTAE channel 4 from Pittsburgh always came in best. There was much to watch on that day with all the celebrations in New York City and Washington DC. The most beautiful of all the events was the parade of tall ships. Stunning sailing vessels from all over the world passed by one after another. Emanating from television, it seemed, I could feel the huge honor from those ships to this country. Looking back, I’m not sure it was deserved.

For me and my mother, it was a lonely day. There would be no visitors or guests. Few, if any, ever bothered. Luckily, I enjoyed our seclusion.

We would eat the fancy cake we made using various sized cylinders such as coffee cans to form what should look like a stack of fireworks. She found the recipe in the newspaper. There was red, white and blue icing to finish off this culinary delight. I hope she won’t be insulted but the cake was awful. Too much baking soda or something as I recall! It became very hard in the refrigerator. We would eat it all, for days, anyway.. Being as awfully poor as we were, there would be no wasting of any crumbs.

That is all I remember from that day. We spent the holiday alone, watching television until bed. Just as we spent today. I did cook hamburgers but on the electric stove. I don’t bother cooking out anymore. I hate the smell of charcoal starter fluid and the noxious smoke of a newly lit grill

*I will update this with drawings as soon as I get a computer up and running.