The Best 4th of July Ever!

Fireworks display in Newton Falls on the 4th

Eagerly anticipating the fireworks

Ben and Nathaniel Toth watching the parade in Newton Falls

Ron and Tamara Toth and baby Josiah

Fred, Tabitha, Hannah, Caleb, Ben and Nathaniel with Lydia and Moriah in the stroller behind

Growing up in Newton Falls had its perks. The 4th of July celebration was always the best around. This year this town of 5,000 drew 50,000 for their fireworks display. It was always a ton of fun. My grandma lived a block away from the park. We would park there and walk downtown to the parade if we weren't in it (which we usually were). The parade lasted about an hour or more with firetrucks from all around, baseball teams, the band, the baton twirlers, etc. Then there would be concerts at the park along with the carnival which lasted for 4 days. We were never aloud to ride any of the rides there, but it was always fun to see who was around and eat the carnival food. Then we would have a picnic at Gram's and walk down to get our places for the fireworks. When I was little didn't like the loud noise, so I stayed with Gram and we would watch from the back porch. As I got older, the lure of the crowd won out. After the fireworks we would walk back to Gram's and eat ice cream and watch the traffic for the next 45 minutes or so. It was the highlight of the year. Many times my cousin from Mississippi was in as well, which made it all the more fun.

Fast-forward to our first year of marriage. It's the 4th of July and we are right outside of Washington D.C. We spent the entire day at our apartment. Chris wasn't feeling well, we didn't know where to go, and I watched the fireworks on T.V. with a box of tissues. I knew the end had come. Since that time, we have done many different things for the 4th. We even spent several years on the mall in D.C. listening to the National Symphony play the 1812 Overture, cannons and all. But they never compare to the 4th of my childhood.

This year we got to spend July 4th in Newton Falls with our dear friends Ron and Tammy Toth and their 8 children. (More about them in another blog). It was just as wonderful as I had remembered. The parade was even longer than an hour with the boys and the Toth children getting way more candy than I thought possible. They loved every minute of it and so did I! The Marine's were even there with all of their cool machines driving down Broad Street. After spending the day visiting old friends and relatives, we were ready for the fireworks. God is so good to me. We even got to park 4 doors down from my Gram's old house and walk past it on the way there. We plowed our way through scores of people jammed into the walk way of the carnival. I only saw one person that I knew growing up, a former band member. But the atmosphere was electric. As we sat and waited for the fireworks and talked and laughed with our children, I remembered all of those good July 4th's of the past. This is what I've been looking for every 4th for 20 years. The boys couldn't believe how good the fireworks were. They lasted 45 minutes. Newton Falls definitely goes all out to bring an amazing show of fireworks. We oohed and aaahed over each amazing light show. When it was over we walked that familiar path back to Gram's, but we had to keep going. I gazed longingly as several people went into my Gram's house for their after the fireworks ice cream. It was bittersweet. We navigated our way through the crowd and were back at the Toth's within 15 minutes because we are locals and we know the back way. As I lay in bed that night I reveled in the fact that I was home again---at least for a day!