The Fourth

The time has come for me to write a blog about the fourth. I've been thinking about what I was going to write and I still am not very sure how to put it. So I guess I will just start from the beginning....

Friday night I got off work and went out to Cottonwood, a park, because my friend Erik was having a party. What ended up taking place was that Lauren, Ashley, Alicia and myself sat in the shelter and talked. Then I took Lauren home and called Ashley to see if she wanted to hang out. We drove around and got a cream slush from Sonic, LemmonBerry is by far the best flav., it was alright, the driving around part. Anyway, Friday ended with me getting home around 11:15 to find an e-mail from Ashley talking about what was going on. I was confused because I had just spent the last hour with her alone and she hadn't said anything. I read and re-read her e-mail and then made the huge mistake of calling Eittreim. I talked to him for over an hour, while he was with his friends, stupid, and came out more upset than I had been about what Ashley had written. I laid awake in my bed until 2:00 and finally fell asleep somewhere shortly after.

I awoke on Saturday, early, to take my shower and leave for LPC. The story of the night prior was written all over my face and my parents knew something was up. I really didn't want to talk about it so we had our little yell-fest and then got in the car. There was a much needed stop at Starbucks where I got my all time favorite drink, the Caramel Latte, skinny of course! Then we headed out for the open road. For some reason my dad chose to take the scenic route putting my family in the car for 2.5 hours instead of the 2 is usually takes. It was fun though. We haven't been contained like that in a long time and it was fun to chil with the fam. After the scenic tour of Iowa, we arrived at the B's for a weekend of fun.

Saturday everyone sat around and talked and I passed out on the picnic table while the women-folk talked. It was fun. Then we had dinner and later smores by the fire. My favorite part of the whole night was when I went up front and laid in the hammoc. I watched the stars and the lightning bugs flying around in the corn field across the highway. It was so pretty. I was talking to Josh on my phone and he was very envious. I got lost in my surroundings, and sorry Josh, but sometimes forgot to listen to what he was saying. I got the jist but it was nice to be by myself for awhile in the dark and quiet. It was very peaceful. After that I sat by the fire for awhile and then went inside and went to sleep.

Sunday morning we all awoke and waited for the rest of the crew to get there before we had awesome toast from france and orange juice that was shaken. The only people we were missing were Aunt Candy and Mike and Dana. The atmosphere was definitley different without them and they were really missed. And I am sure everyone is in agreement that the pinwheels and whatever drink concoction(sp?) Dana would have brought were missed as much as the people themselves. We really did miss you guys!

The hard part is writing this. Uncle Dan came up with Chad and Holli, I know I spelled that wrong, on Sunday. It was really good to see him. He looked slightly different than I remembered but I haven't seen him in a few years so I am sure no one looked the same to him. Especially my sister and I. I was young and uninformed when everything took place a few years ago so I am not really sure of all the specifics and they really aren't my business. When I found out that Dan was going to be with us I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what he would be like or what I would say or how I should act. When they got there, I just walked out said hello like I would have before everything, and we went on with our day. At times it seemed a little awkward and there were some strange silences but I would say everyone was happy that he could be with us. It was nice to see him and good to talk to him as brief as it may have been.

In total, the fourth was nothing more and nothing less than I expected. (This brings me back to what Tony wrote last year and then what I responded.) Everyone was there that could be and those who weren't were missed. It pretty much was a weekend where the adults spent time catching up on eachothers lives and my sister and I slept inside. It didn't seem that is was because we were the only ones under 21 this year, I think my friend Abbie put it best. She was takling about how all she wanted growing up was for her much older siblings to see and respect her as someone mature and as a sister. But because she didn't share the same life they did, it was hard for them. It was hard for my sister and me because while everyone respects us and treats us like adults, for the most part, we still don't understand everything that goes on and we still aren't privy to certain information. I had a good time, don't get me wrong, but there is always that want to fit in, the want to be able to hold conversation with the adults and the ability just isn't there as much as it needs to be, especially not for Sarah. So yeah, we floated from conversation to conversation, pausing only long enough to find that no one was talking about anything sufficiently interesting enough, and then retreated to the living room whenever we just wanted to sleep.

It was a good weekend and I am glad that we all still make the effort to get to LPC every year to be with eachother. Thanks to Auntie S and Uncle T for opening their home to us once again. And thanks to everyone who brought food! It was all so good!

And moving on from the fam, I hung out with Josh on Monday night at the fireworks. It was strange because my phone hasn't rang more than once a day, if even, and everyone wanted me on Monday. Annie Schwartz had called Saturday to let me know she was having a bar-b-que and then going to the fireworks, Josh called me on Monday morning, and then Lauren called me Monday at work and asked me to go to Hyperion to watch those fireworks with her. I ended up taking Josh with me to watch the fireworks with Annie's little party. They had seated themselves behind a tree and we couldn't see anything so we moved about 20 feet away to get a better seat. Once the fireworks were over I expected Annie or at least someone to come over and tell us what they were doing. I shouldn't have though as no one did. When we got there there were some awkward conversations and for the most part no one really talked to me so I wasn't that upset about them not saying anything when they left. I just said screw it and Josh and I stayed and talked in the park until I took him home that night. Anywho....















This is Josh for all of you who don't know....

Happy skimming....