Better to Laugh

Annual Fireworks Extravaganza

We had heaps of fun July 4th, celebrating with swimming, food, lawn tractor rides, and fireworks at my parents’ house. As it grew dark, the little children had fun waving sparklers and the big boys had fun lighting fireworks. It is quite entertaining to watch four men in their 40s get excited about blowing things up. Purchasing the explosives, strategizing on the best method for launching without losing any appendages, and execution of the fireworks show, every step of the event brings them joy. My 68-year-old dad and 15-year-old nephew got in on a little of the action; the rest of us sat on the driveway at the top of the hill and watched from a relatively safe distance, with the exception of a curious 10 and 12-year-old that watched more closely.

To give them credit, the show was really beautiful and rivaled the park’s fireworks that we could see in the sky above the treeline. The evening ended with only one casualty, a sparkler burn on my 5-year-old niece. Those sparklers just look innocent!

Ahhhh… Catching up with friends is fun, and so entertaining with my grandson, Gavin, along. We started out by walking along the Monon Trail (a walking, running, biking, etc. path). My friend, Cathy, and I walked and talked, but spent a lot of time watching Gavin observe the dogs and birds and wave to everyone we passed. He talked a lot, too, but I am not sure whom is conversation was with, or what was being said, but he was quite animated.

After the walk, we stopped at a local coffee shop. There was a man working at his computer and conducting business on his cell. Gavin waved enthusiastically, and the man smiled and waved back as he talked on the phone; you just cannot deny that sweet face. We got some treats and sat on couches facing each other, meanwhile Gavin climbed onto the table in-between. It was about 18 inches tall, perfect Gavin height. We got him off of the table and distracted with some grapes. I had a light green iced cake ball, about the size of a fruit ball. I took a bite and held it out for Gavin to try while listening to Cathy. I looked down, and there was no cake in my hand. I asked Cathy if he she had seen him put the entire piece in his mouth; she had not noticed. We looked at Gavin, who just looked at us like, “What’s up?” There was no noticeably large bite bulge, so we searched the floor under the couches and table, no cake ball. Cathy said not to worry about it, that the cake and icing would just melt. Well, I had no idea how correct she would be. A few minutes later, Gavin gave us a big grin, except instead of teeth, he showed us a big wad of cake. We giggled, and I watched to make sure he was managing the chewing process without difficulty. He seemed to be handling it just fine. Then, Gavin headed for the hallway. We called him back; he stopped, turned, and giggled, letting out a light green eruption of foam and drool. We laughed so hard tears came to our eyes. That made him laugh and erupt even more green, lava-like foam. He looked like a science fair exhibit! Cathy laughingly asked if I liked ‘see’ food; I doubled over with laughter. I wiped his mouth, and he finally consumed the last of the cake ball.

We headed outside to go our separate ways, but Gavin found the bare, back patio a fun place to run freely. Also, there were ROCKS lining the side of the building as part of the landscaping; his favorite outdoor toy. So, he threw rocks out, and I put them back. It was lots of fun, for Gavin, but finally we needed to leave. Getting into the car seat signaled the end of our play date. Gavin did not like having his fun time interrupted, but he did not protest long. He probably figured it could be worse, at least he wasn’t being put down for a nap!