like nothing else

ok, I know I promised more Cornerstone reflections, and they will come, but I couldn't let too much time pass before telling the harrowing tale that happened last night - it's just silly hearing about the 4th of July sometime in August - and we all know how good I am at updating my blog (thanks for pointing it out, TIM!)

Last night we were over at Jodi's house celebrating the 4th. She lives a couple blocks away from a park where they put on a really good fireworks display, so we all made plans to go there. We ended up getting a really good spot, close to the action, an entirely unobstructed view of the show. We were all really excited about it.

Until the show actually started.

Of course there were oohs and aahs, it was quite a spectacular display, living up to the hype. But not too long into it, people started noticing large charred things floating to the earth, then we started noticing that some of them were more like glowing embers landing on the ground near our blankets and chairs. Then people started exclaiming that they were being hit with these missiles, getting things in their eyes, being covered in ash, all the while still oohing and aahing over the fireworks. We all were razzing the people who chose that spot, but no one actually moved, because it was just way too cool to look up and see fireworks exploding literally right over your head. It was also very scary, but mostly way too cool.

The finale was really spectacular, lots of explosions and smoke - the entire field where everyone was sitting was absolutely thick with a yellowish haze, it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of you. I've never seen a fireworks show quite like it, not sure if I'd like to be quite that close ever again, but it was definitely impressive.