My experience with fireworks

I have to say that Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays.  Partially because I love summertime, but mostly because I love everything that comes with it.  The festive mood everyone is in.  The vibrant red, whites, and blues.  Old Glory flying high everywhere you look.  Picnics, and laying on the ground in the warm summer night air.  The promise of patriotism despite politics that seems to hang in the air.  and the FIREWORKS. I love fireworks. Yup, DeFiNiTeLy one of my absolute favorite holidays. But, for me, today was not the typical 4th of July.  You know, the all-American, red, white, and blue, eat a hot dog and some watermelon on the checkered-cloth-covered picnic table by the barbeque grill, 4th of July? The kind where you pull out the denim picnic blanket after dark and sit on the lawn to watch the fireworks? Well that's not exactly what my day looked like. 

You see, last night my venue for the day was changed.  I recieved a call around 5:30 letting me know that one of my best friends since childhood, had been put in the hospital.  Kenzie and I met when we were 3 and 4 and grew so close over the years that I literally cant remember a time when we haven't refered to one another's parents as "aunt" and "uncle." Needless to say, I was there the second I got off work. I found out that she had been experiencing some major abdominal pain for the last few days, and that the doctors didn't know much, but they were going to run some tests today. After the tests came back, we found out that she has gastritis, which is basically a fancy word for major inflamation of the intestines.  That however is not the moral of my story.

A little over a month ago, I had the pleasure of standing next to Kenzie as she married Mo.  Well I already knew Mo was an amazing guy, or else I would never have given him permission to marry her ;) but today he showed me, yet again, why he was such a perfect match for her.  A month into marriage, one would not really expect to be in the hospital next to one's spouse, yet there he was, in that green recliner, devoted to doing everything he could for her.

Now, hospital visits to Kenzie are kinda like trips to the grocery store for the average granny, they happen about once a week (I'm only exgaggerating a bit) and I, being the lifelong friend, am a pro at this stuff by now.  Mo, on the other hand, comes from a healthy family, and so was not exactly accustomed to the situation.  He did so well though, and to watch the love and utter devotion in his eyes, was like glimpsing a fireworks show that could not have begun to be paralleled.
 
So while the "for worse" came before the "for better" and I ate Zaxby's instead of my much craved hot dog, the simple fact that these two young people are so in love made the day more than bearable. 
Congratulations again you too, and I pray that "better" gets here swiftly.

Happy Independence Day!
Lacy