Fireworks on the 5th

Friday holidays really throw of my internal clock/calendar. About midway through yesterday (Friday) I kept thinking it was Saturday. I woke up today feeling like I needed to get ready for breakfast with God. All of this and I'm not even drinking. Our July 4th was celebrated with our neighbors, Dan, Laureen and their son Dylan. We had a little cookout with kosher hotdogs, deer steaks (thanks to my brother Richard), corn on the cob, iced tea and beer. Now that was good eating. As a side note neither Jenne or I, or our neighbors are Jewish. We just like the kosher hotdogs the best. My parents were having a 4th of July cookout, but we skipped that as my cousin's annual big bash on the waterfront is today and we're committed to that. Besides, my folks will be at my cousin's par-tay. I can only take so much family in one weekend and there was no way I was going to be able to deal with two days in a row of my dad and his shenanigans. So today is the big extended family cookout with huge amounts of food and drink, music, games, swimming, boating and fireworks! Part of me looks forward to it, to seeing my cousins, my nieces and nephews, and the extended part of the family that I only see once or twice a year. Then there's the other part of me that dreads it. What kind of BS is my dad going to try and pull? What sorts of guilt trips are going to be laid? What sort of veiled family bashing is going to go on? Jenne and I have made a pact with each other that we aren't going to stand for it anymore and that we are going to be vocal about it. When one of us gets vocal the other comes to aid and support. The big question that looms in my mind for today is what kind of fireworks there will actually be at this party.