Brief run-down on the weekend
On July 4th we had some friends over for late afternoon and dinner. They had been slowly grilling a couple of racks of ribs all afternoon and they brought them over to share. We provided the beverages and most of the food. Together we put on a fine feast. As the evening got closer and it was time to start thinking about fireworks the weather worsened and it started to rain.
I told Chloe we would not be attending the fireworks because I didn’t want to sit in the rain getting cold and wet in the dark waiting for mediocre fireworks. But I reconsidered when we figured out an alternate plan. We found an office park that overlooks the lake where the fireworks are launched and we decided to stay in the car until the show started and then we could use umbrellas. The kids were thrilled.
So me and the other guy gathered all the kids in to the van and spent 30 minutes watching fireworks in the rain. It worked out ok and naturally it wasn’t as good as watching them from up-close or without rain, but it was a pretty acceptable way to deal with the lousy weather while still getting our dose of fireworks.
I took the rest of the week off from work because I thought hardly anyone would be in. I took the kids swimming and bike riding. We built model rockets that we were supposed to launch this coming weekend with the cub scouts. That event has been postponed until the end of august but at least everyone has a rocket they can launch now. I did some yard work and took care of some errands. It was really nice spending time at home without much to do. The weather was mostly good most of the time.
We found out that an eight-year-old girl that was well known in town and attended the kids’ elementary school died on Monday, July 2nd. She had a degenerative muscular disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy. Everyone knew she wouldn’t live to adulthood but her death was unexpected nonetheless. She was very active and, to the best of her ability, did cheerleading and took dance classes at the same place as my daughters. For as long as I’ve known her, since she was maybe four or five, she’s been confined to an electric wheelchair. There was a very large four-hour viewing (open casket) on Sunday. It probably took us 90 minutes to get through the line. The kids were great. Not just good for kids – they were great people and behaved themselves really well. Gabriel was the same age as the little girl and Ben has been in the same class as her older brother off and on over the years. We saw a lot of people we knew there and it was a really sad event. On Monday there was an equally large funeral service and a very long procession from Melrose to the cemetery in Peabody. I don’t think we made any friends on Rt.1 North that day.
So it was hard in that regard. Fortunately the Roger Waters concert finished off the day. Now its back to work for a couple of weeks until the weekend of July 22nd when we will go to Smuggler’s Notch with my parents for a week. It should be a lot of fun, I think and we’re all looking forward to it.
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