4th of July

For beautiful oh spacious skies....

Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I mean I would pass up my birthday, Valentines Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving....you get the picture. I LOVE Fourth of July.

Why? I'm not quite sure, I love that there's no expectations but I love the stereotypical Fourth of July cook out and fireworks. Those of you who know me well know I HATE holiday stereotypes. I hate how retail and the media ruin big holidays but Fourth of July well, it's different.

I don't know how long I've felt this way. Probably since I first saw The Sandlot. There's a scene where Smalls is talking about the one time of the year the gang gets to play at night because the lot is illuminated by fire works. They show this 1960 neighborhood with a block party cook out. Kids running around with sparklers and riding on their bikes. Every time that scene comes on, I just imagine myself in that neighborhood. (I also love that decade)

So, that scene is set and the boys are playing ball and that's when Ray Charles' "America The Beautiful" starts playing. The drum roll and horn section at the beginning and then Ray's soulful voice eases in. It's....a great scene.

That's where it all began, now fast forward from the first viewing of the sandlot to when I first ran the Atlanta Journal Peachtree Road Race 10k. This race is of course on the Fourth of July in Atlanta, Georgia.

My dad and I were in the corral waiting for our wave to start. They played the Star-Spangled Banner as they do at any big athletic event and when it ended three fighter jets flew over the race route. The way the jets roared, and the way the American flag waved in the background on this summer morning gave me the goosebumps. I loved the feeling. I loved what the day is about.

And of course fireworks. What's fourth of July with out fireworks?

Fast forward to 2014, I am now in Orlando, Florida working in the hospitality industry doesn't really allow you to take July 4th off so I wasn't able to join my brother and dad in the race this year.

My dream Fourth of July is to combine all the stereotypical things into one day that I can with out trying to hard. And today I believe is the closest I have ever been.

I dropped Drew off at work at 6:45 this morning, after which I went and decided if I can't run the race in Atlanta I can at least do a 10k here. So I went to my normal running spot and did 6.2 miles in an hour and seven minutes. (Not bad for a girl who only ran 2.5 miles yesterday). I started work at 10am. The hotel I work at had an extensive agenda for the day everything from hot dog eating contest to cookie decorating. I was able to enjoy a day by the pool watching everyone participate. In the lunch room they had typical cook out food.

10k? Check. Pool day? Check. Cook out? Check.

I got off of work and Drew and I went home. We debated going to one of the local theme parks to watch fireworks but we didn't want to deal with parking and people. I told him if he would download one song I would just stay in the neighborhood. Drew agreed.

Our friend/roommate Scott knew of a place near our neighborhood that would over look the complex as well as the theme park fireworks so we drove over there. Only five minutes from the house!

We drove up to the top of the hill and parked. It was the perfect spot. The location was a panoramic view of neighborhood fireworks, city fireworks and theme park fireworks. Before I could even say anything Drew played the song I asked him to download. "America The Beautiful" by none other than Ray Charles.

It was perfect. The drum roll at the beginning, the horn section and rays soulful voice easing jn all while I watched fireworks as far as the eye can see. I couldn't of asked for a better moment. The fireworks lasted through two plays of the song and we headed home. No traffic, no people. Just us.

10k? Check. Pool day? Check. Cook out? Check. Fireworks and Ray Charles? double check.

The evening ended by lighting floating lanterns with Scott and drinking homemade red velvet milkshakes.