Fireworks

The fourth of July happens to be my favorite holiday. You aren't obligated to purchase gifts, create a list for others to shower you with monetary represenations of their affection for you, you don't have to go to church or your family's house, you aren't expected to eat oodles of candy or make a certain type of meat or bird to savor, and it doesn't need any preparatory work as far as planning, invitations, cleaning, or cooking.

On the fourth of July you can just be. So, I guess I love the irony in that it's called Independence Day. I know that the real reason for this name is not for my own feelings of being able to master self-sufficiency, but I do like that nobody is expecting of or counting on you for anything on this holiday. You don't have to attend anything. In fact, you can stay home all day and enjoy it or you can make extravagant plans of adventure and wildness. It's up to you. You are independent to decide really.

It's in the summer and the carefree, heat of the season is upon you throughout the day. Barbecue can be savored, watermelon seeds and rinds as well as corn cobs tossed in competition, and pools and other bodies of water reveled in for a cooling soak of hot skin.

You might saunter to a nearby park, packing your car down with blankets, snacks, sparklers, and soft drinks to make camp for the events at dusk. You might join the hoardes of people at the Space Needle, Gasworks Park, or on any hill with a view in any city of moderate size to take in the delightful displays of popping, banging, crackling, sparkling, glowing, and lighting up of the sky that is fireworks. Oohing and ahhing are absolutely necessary parts of this experience. Yeah, it's got a lot of benefits and positives with the whole fourth of July celebration and day.

And, you get an additional paid day off. It just keeps getting better.