4th of July - 2011

It was a hot one, here At Altitude.  Not nearly as hot as other places, I know, but a scorcher none the less.

We have neighbors across the street, who were original owners, like us who sold, moved out, and closed on their house this week. A job offer is moving them up north of here not so far away, but a world away as opposed to seeing them almost everyday.  We met when they came looking for a snow shovel to borrow, the first week we both moved in.

I have a hard time with change..............a really hard time, and even when the change is for the good, I still struggle.  In this case, we'll miss the friendship. 

So we combined a going away bash for them, with the annual block party, which we've had every year we've lived here.  The block was jumping, lots of people, many who I met for the first time.............all in the house, outside the house, in my back yard, on the the driveway, in the garage.  Kids galore............water balloons, squirt gun fights, ladder golf, Frisbee, games of catch, hot dogs on the grill, cupcakes and rice crispy treats, in other words, an all American 4th of July.  We even had great tunes, thanks to a friend who's a DJ and brought his gear.

In a poetic moment, the new owner of our friend's house showed up too and came and hung out with us all for a while, and met all his new, noisy, party loving neighbors.  Welcome to a neighborhood that's actually a neighborhood, not just a row of houses where no one interacts.  In this little slice of the world, we all watch out for each other, break bread together and enjoy the feeling of home.

  We shot off some fireworks, the kind we can, and someone....... who just moved out ......provided the out of state variety......but we got away with it. I sat, observing last night, as the party was winding down.  I get to the end of days like that and the filmmaker buried deep inside me, sees the whole thing from behind a camera lens.  It was in slow motion as the kids flooded the street in the near dark, the glow from the sparklers illuminating their faces. 




We live in a great country, in a great state, and my little slice of it is not so bad either. 

And sparklers are one of my most favorite things.


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