Not only do we get to celebrate the wonderful freedoms that are ours and the lives of those that have bought our freedoms, we also get to explode things. Well, The Big Guy Lowe gets to explode things.
We hadn't been expecting to celebrate this year as we are usually in Canada for our HB family reunion. We were pretty excited when we realized that the reunion was scheduled the week after the Fourth. Originally we had planned on having a somewhat small potluck BBQ with our neighbors and some family members. The day of the event, we found out that more neighbors had found out about our celebrations and understood them to be a block-party. YIKES!! All of a sudden we were concerned about the amount of food we had and everything else. Our neighbors Sue and Kathy were great at helping with last minute preparations for our much bigger event!
The BBQ actually turned out pretty well. There was plenty of food as many delicious dishes were brought. As evening approached everyone began bringing out their fireworks. It was crazy to see the amount of fireworks that were brought over to our street.
Fireworks were going off on from the streets behind us and the streets in front of us.
Our neighbors were tucked into their comfy chairs ready for the show to begin.
Everything seemed like it would be fine as usual.
Until there were at least four different areas of fireworks being set off at the same time and from too close of an area.
I took this picture just minutes before all hell broke loose, and I don't say that lightly. It scares me to think how close to the firework cache we had allowed our children to sit.
There are no more pictures.
Literally minutes after this last photo was taken a stray spark caught about $800.00 worth of fireworks on fire and they were exploding out of control. I remember as things began to explode and the danger of the situation hit me realizing that these three little boys were sitting withing 10 feet of the exploding firework cache. They didn't know what to do. I was standing behind them and grabbed them all from behind and pulled them into our neighbors back yard behind their fence. Fireworks were exploding everywhere. All I could see was smoke and fireworks. All I could hear was explosion after explosion, people yelling, and the three boys I was huddling with behind the fence sobbing in terror. I knew that our youngest son was inside the house with our youngest neice, but other than that I didn't know what was happening. I was terrified for The Big Guy Lowe who had been right in the middle of the exploding fireworks. I desperately wanted to go and see where He was, but when I tried to leave the boys they looked at me such terror that I knew I couldn't leave them. I just prayed and prayed.
Such terror possessed me that night. When we finally realized that the explosions had stopped for good, (there had been a brief lull earlier until more fireworks began exploding again) I took the three boys and quickly guided them into our home through our back yard. When we got inside I found all our kids and cousins. Jaymee was there and so was Grammy and a few other people. We immediately saw that we needed to calm the kids down. We decided to sing "I Am a Child of God" and then we said a prayer. Everyone was okay for the most part, even though there were a few superficial burns and hair that had been singed. I put a fun show on tv and went to find my husband.
Gratefully, for as bad as the night had been there were no serious injuries. Other than a few singed marks on our door, some melted blankets, a bush that burned in Sue and Gary's yard and some smoldering bark dust in our yard (!) everyone was okay. When The Big Guy Lowe and I found each other, we just held onto one another. I was so grateful and relieved that he was okay. He had a burn on his leg, but other than that he was okay. All I wanted was for the evening to be over and everyone to go home.
Unbelieveably, our neighbors just moved the rest of the fireworks down the street and continued lighting them off and my brother continued lighting off fireworks that one of their friends had just bought minutes before the explosions began.
Clean up took place. Garbage was collected. The Big Guy Lowe and I have determined that we will never let another situation like that happen again. Shakily we went to bed that night, grateful for the blessing of safety that had been ours that day...when so much could have been worse.
The next morning I was still feeling very unsettled. I knew I needed to somehow let our neighbors know of our feelings and the responsibility that needed to be each of ours. The following is the note that I printed out and taped on each door of those that had been present the night before:
We wanted to send out a special thank you to all those that helped with our neighborhood 4th of July celebration yesterday. We enjoyed the yummy food at the pot-luck BBQ and especially took pleasure in strengthening our neighborhood associations. With that said, we also feel an apology needs to be made for the fireworks “mishap” that took place. In years past we have always enjoyed a strong degree of safety and order. That has been the solid base that has provided for great celebrations. Last night, in our neighborhood excitement, multiple fireworks both large and small were being set off simultaneously and in close proximity to one another. On-lookers—especially children were extremely close to that area. During this exciting but confusing time, a stray spark ignited a portion of the firework cache. While no one person is responsible for the accident, there is an opportunity to share a neighborhood apology. No one should ever be put in that dangerous and confusing situation. While fireworks have a degree of associated risk, we can do our part to keep that risk to a minimum. As for our family, we will be making changes in the up-coming years to ensure safety for our family and those around us. We look forward to keeping our future 4th of July celebrations focused on strengthening our neighborhood associations while commemorating the blessings of living in this great country. We love this neighborhood and all of you that make it so great. Have a wonderful and safe summer…now that it looks like it has finally come!
Sincerely,
Both The Big Guy Lowe and I feel like this was the end of our enticement with explosions. It's well over a month after this event took place, but I have only now been able to write about it. I have much to be grateful for and will make sure I act on those impressions I recieve in the future.
