Four years ago, we left the relatively quiet and frozen tundra of Maine for the sunny shores of Florida. We haven’t regretted our decision. We do miss the fall foliage but we use that as an excuse to escape to the Tennessee mountains for a couple of weeks each October.

While we love having an endless supply of restaurants to try, and I really enjoy the human energy associated with a faster-paced lifestyle and a higher population, one thing we don’t enjoy is…the traffic on holiday weekends.

During “the season” (which begins the week after Christmas and ends around Easter), it can be bad. But, it can’t even compare to holiday weekends when you live five minutes from the beach.

In Maine, when a snowstorm was coming, we’d go to the grocery store and stock up in case we couldn’t leave the house for a couple of days. This week, with the Fourth of July looming, we’ll do the same thing. On holiday weekends, the traffic leading onto the island backs all the way up to our neighborhood. So, on Thursday, Richard will drive to the store and get us all stocked up on everything we might need for the weekend (barbeque supplies, sparklers, bottled water, toilet paper, etc.).

We will venture out on Saturday night, and will spend way too much time driving to the beach – a trip that usually takes only a few minutes. We get there just before sunset…

And then the crowds will converge for the big show. The fireworks here are amazing! All the rich folks buy the illegal kind, the huge ones! They line up their canisters up and down the beach for miles and it’s a 3-hour show! There are only a few island police officers on four-wheelers and they can’t keep up with the illegal activities of so many. I honestly don’t even know why they try.

We will then spend an even longer time trying to get home because so many people will then be trying to get OFF the island. Our tradition now is to come home and have a late night snack of pizza (FAR too close to bedtime!), and then a piece of the “flag cake” I make each year.

We are praying all of YOU have a fun and safe Independence Day, too!

THIS WEEK’S MASONISM

Mason said, “When I’m a millionaire, I’m going to buy a DeLorean.”

I asked, “What are you going to do to become a millionaire?”

He replied, “Dancer!”

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