The 4th of July in the South

After seven years in Nashville, I don't remember celebrating all that many 4th of July's here. Last year I was stepping off a plane into a blast of heat like nothing else in Khartoum, Sudan, visiting my family. Well, this year I was home in Nashville and I noticed some things....

The "big" fireworks are not sold in Michigan so moving to the South has been interesting. Shooting off such fireworks starts a couple days before the 4th...on a regular basis on my street...usually around midnight. "I'm glad that you're into celebrating Independence Day and all, but come on...sleep already!"

Because these fireworks are readily available, you can see multiple shows while waiting for the BIG show downtown. Sitting atop the parking ramp at Belmont University, my old roommate Jeannie and I enjoyed our Pizza Hut large one-topping pizza (for $6.99) while watching fireworks pop up all around us as we waited for 9 p.m. to roll around.

The main show on the river downtown was really good...especially with the radio feed of the symphony over the loud speaker that someone was blaring behind us. My favorite fireworks were the stars and smiley faces. *Grin* Apparently, Nashville has the third best fireworks show in the country, according to statistics that Jeannie quoted.

So, after the main show, I dropped Jeannie off at her house and headed home myself. But even then the fireworks display was not over...because I am in the South. All the way home, along Interstate 65 North between Trinity Lane and Old Hickory Boulevard, random, colorful fireworks shot up left and right.

My favorite ones were the ones being set off in Old Hickory Village, of course. All things are better in the Village. In the parking lot of the burned-down Old Hickory Shopping Center were three guys and their pick-up truck with fireworks. One after another, they shot "big" fireworks off for the Villagers. Ah, I was home!

And now, another year of falling asleep to firecrackers is behind me....