4th of July

From Millie:

We'll be closed on the Fourth of July, in case anyone is wondering.

I've been pondering today what we'll do to celebrate. It's one of those strange, non-holiday type days, and I'm never sure how to proceed. Just the fact that it's a bonus day off should be enough. But I have some strange vision of Americana in my head, involving parades and barbecues, maybe boats. I don't usually buy into that type of thing, but somehow holidays make me feel I should stage these things for my children. I find I'm really challenged when it comes to creating "new family traditions". I don't know anyone who owns a boat, and I'm not really feeling ambitious enough to stage a barbecue. I could try to convince the kids the the Fourth of July is a traditional day to clean the house? We could tackle some minor home improvement project. I could come in to the empty store and try to catch up on desk work. All somewhat uninspiring ideas.

Probably we'll sleep late, spend some time jumping on the trampoline, swim in the inflatable pool, and cook some veggie burgers and pasta salad for dinner. Maybe do some reading with the kids on Wikipedia about the Fourth of July--hey, never miss a teachable moment! Maybe do a token load of laundry to appease the cleaning fairies. We'll watch the fireworks from the treehouse in Grammy's backyard.

One of my ongoing self-improvement projects is to focus more on the moment, less on the past, future, and imaginary could-have-been present. "The crucial moment is the present moment"--I think that's a bit of Jedi wisdom from one of Riley's Star Wars books. So I'll try to let go of my Norman Rockwell picture of the Fourth of July that could-have-been. Extra sleep and time with my family is a pretty good tradition.

Enjoy the day with your family!

Millie