Last night we went to the Frisco Freedom Festival to celebrate the 4th of July. Well, more accurately, we went and left. After finding out that the “Taste of Frisco” was free, I thought to myself that free food would be a great way to celebrate the 4th, but it wasn’t free. It was free entry. But the food prices more than made up for the entry fee being waived. I got some $5 nachos and Alina shared a $4 sno-cone with Rachael. As we sat, eating our overpriced snacks, we thought it would be better to head out for dinner and hang out at our house instead of spending 5 hours and many more dollars, waiting for the fireworks to begin.
So, Jon and Melissa, Jeff, Rachael, Alina and I, went to Randy Whites for dinner where we stuffed ourselves beyond comfort with some quality BBQ. After that we spent the next few hours playing Yahtzee and The Game of Knowledge (which is a game “for kids and their parents”) were we each one of us revealed that we should have continued playing a game of chance rather than a game of knowledge.
We left our house about 9:00pm to find some seats in a field or parking lot near where the fireworks were going to go off at 9:45pm. After traveling for what was just about the longest 3 miles of my life we arrived in a good parking lot just as the fireworks began. The “oohs” and “ahhs” lasted for 15 or 20 minutes. The fireworks exploding in the air to the background music of somebody’s car stereo crooning patriotic music in an operatic style.
But, cheesy music aside, it was all worth it to see Rachael’s expressions. You see, it was the first time that we took her to see fireworks, so she had to get over her initial fear that they where “going to get her”. And once she did, she decided that she really “liked the blue ones”.
It was a good time while it lasted. But, when it ended, it was miserable. We had to drive home. And, so did everybody else. And because Frisco has every road under construction and no road finished, our drive home became the longest 3 miles of my driving life. I know, with absolute certainty that we could have walked the 3 miles faster than the hour and a half that it took us to drive it. Getting home just before midnight was ridiculous, but I have never appreciated my soft bed more.
I’ll tell you what though, celebrating our country as everybody watches the same fireworks and everybody is equal in their participation and admiration of the display of patriotism stands in stark contrast to what people do when they get into their vehicles to drive home. The people who were, not five minutes before, engaged in a community celebration of our nation, now had become a bunch of selfish and arrogant individuals, cutting each other off or not letting other people merge. It sure is interesting that America is celebrated in community, but the minute that the show is over, the only American that matters is “me”. I sure enjoyed the united America better than the driving one. I guess our unity lasts only as long as the show is entertaining.
Anyway, it was a good time, but next year I will figure out a way to avoid having to sit in traffic with all of those angry Americans again.
