Today is the big day…..

I know all of you are busy with the holidays and probably will not read this until Tuesday. That’s okay. I still love to write and do so for myself as much as anybody.

Today is the big day. We are going to fire up several grills. Boil 9 or 10 chickens and then grill them until there are smoky and the barbeque sauce caramelizes and coats them. It is customary in the family to see who can eat a whole chicken on the 4th. My cousin Clifton has the record when he ate one and half chickens on a hot and hazy Fourth of July in the seventies. His record still stands. It is a legend that is often told by my father every fourth. I and my brother can usually eat a whole chicken but we can’t beat his record. We eat until our stomachs are disgorged and we can barely move. The only things you want to do are just sitting and digesting or taking a nap.

The condiments are also important along with the homemade barbeque sauce. The sauce is vinegary and mustard tasting. We here were I live cannot stand sweet barbeque sauces. That stuff is nasty. No, it has to be my grandmothers time honored recipe; slowly cooked until it bubbles and condenses into a rich, tangy, spicy sauce. We also have to have homemade coleslaw and buttery, toasted barbeque bread. You then dip the bread into a bowl of sauce and eat it. Man, that is some good stuff and I cannot wait. My mouth is salivating as I write this.

I am going in a bit to drive down and buy a backpack full of fireworks. I have a little extra money and will take care of this detail. Roman candles, bottle rockets, and firecrackers for the kids. The big stuff is for the adults to shoot like the large canister rockets and the color sprays. We are going to wait until nightfall and put on a show in the front yard. I am even tempted to put a few firecrackers in the fire ant hill and light them for old time’s sake. That was something we loved as children to do with firecrackers; war with the fire ants.

May your Fourth of July be fun and you enjoy your families. I am just overjoyed and excited that I do not have to spend this fourth alone. I will be surrounded by my family and loved ones. We will all be talking, laughing, shooting the shit, and eating good food until we are sick. Good day all and enjoy this extra day weekend and this special holiday that commemorates the founding of this great country. It’s Independence Day but I am glad not to be independent in a lonely sense. I am part of a larger group called a family. I am glad I belong.