Yesterday celebrated another Fourth of July Jubilee. While watching the parade, milling around before the fireworks, and enjoying the show, I realized I experience something unique every year. Small towns often bear the brunt of jokes or are put down, but there are some things small towns have that larger cities can’t touch.

Parade Memories

The Port Orford 4th of July parade is a constant in our family, and there have been very few times we’ve missed it, even if we did miss the fireworks. I shared photos of a memorable parade two years ago. The thing that makes the parade so memorable is how often our own kids are able to be in it. In fact, I used my own experiences in an upcoming fantasy trilogy.

“Are either of you going to be in the Fourth of July parade?” Cherise asked, changing the subject.

I nodded. School sports wanted a float, and I’d agreed.

“Carl wants me to be on the crab shack float,” Will said, indicating the owner of the business. “I get to throw candy from the boat.”

“Sounds fun,” I said. “I’m just walking the parade route. What about you, Cherise?”

She shook her head. “Nope, not me. I get to chase candy. Maybe Chace will keep me company.”

~Myrtle Beach Adventure by Kandi J Wyatt

My son in the Cape Blanco Soccer Club float inspired the main character’s part in the parade.

As for the candy mentioned, my twenty-year-old son yesterday filled his hood with everything from Tootsie Rolls to chocolate coins and Starbursts. We live in an area where it’s still okay to throw candy out during a parade.

Meeting everyone and their dog

The phrase quite literally applies. I’d never thought anything about it before, until one 4th of July at the parade I began to notice the amount of dogs there. Yesterday, my fifteen-year-old became acutely aware of every single dog because he tried to walk a sheep through the parade route with dogs barking and scaring his sheep.

(Once the 4th of July arrived, our characters enjoy a dingy race, after the race they walk uptown.)

 

We hadn’t been able to get lunch yet; so, we headed back up to the square where they had hamburgers and hot dogs for sale. Once we made it through the line, and had greeted everyone from school and those who had known us all our lives, we headed back to the beach to eat. The weather was perfect. I couldn’t remember a Fourth of July in my fourteen years that had not been windy. The beach was crowded with people in the water and on the sand. The volleyball tournament started shortly after we sat down. We enjoyed watching while we ate.

~Myrtle Beach Adventure by Kandi J Wyatt

Fireworks up close and personal

We live in a town small enough to not have their own fireworks display. So we can either head north or south to the next town. Last year we decided to go north thirteen miles to watch the fireworks instead of heading south. I realized for the first time how unique our normal experience of literally feeling the reverberation of the titanium charged fireworks is. It didn’t seem right to watch fireworks and not hear the swoosh as they shot up into the air or experience the sensation that the sparks are going to fall down on you. This does come with a price; we bundle up in stocking caps, blankets, and winter jackets to watch the show on the hill overlooking the beach.

By the time people gathered on the beach and the dune behind it to watch the fireworks, we had met up with my folks and Karis. Mom had brought several blankets and sweatshirts for us to wear. Any other year and I would have begged to have both, but this summer, I didn’t need either of them. We all commented on how strange it was.

~Myrtle Beach Adventure by Kandi J Wyatt

When we could actually watch the show from the beach like I depicted in the story, we’d often get to see the sparks fizzle out in the water.

I’d love to hear about a community event that you cherish. Is there a special time when everyone gets together and celebrates or just enjoys being together? Let me know in the comments.

The kids have grown up learning to sit and listen to adult conversations, and as they grew, they became part of that conversation. I used to read to them after dinner. We have met various characters who have become part of our family culture. I started out with biographies, and then moved on to stories the kids wanted to share with the family. The last book we read was D J MacHale’s Pendragon series. We only made it to book 9, and it took several years due to various interruptions. The reading gave way to conversations with the kids about their day or joking around. Some of my favorite memories right now are centered around our dinner table and laughing with my children.

Our dinner table was a place to teach our kids’ friends how to interact with a family. Many of their friends had never sat down at a table except maybe at Christmas or Thanksgiving. They learned how to ask for food to be passed and how to ask to be excused from the table.

It was around the dinner table that our kids learned how to interact with adults–not just parents. We have entertained missionaries from around the world: Japan, Brazil, New Zealand, Ethiopia, and more. Besides the missionaries who visited from church, we have had numerous visitors. These aren’t just our friends that we know and love. Our visitors are travelers along Highway 101. We have enjoyed getting to know people from Seattle, Colorado, Eugene, New Hampshire, Boston, New York, England, France, Bolivia, Spain, Germany, Palestine and countless more. Many are college age students who are hiking or biking their way across a part of the United States. We have sat and chatted about politics, their impressions of the US, and anything that came to mind. After dinner we have jammed adding a violin and drums to our guest’s saxophone. We enjoyed target practice once. Numerous times, we entertained our visitors with fire dancing, but only once did our guest join the show.

Our kids have also enjoyed game nights around the table. When they were little, we had game day on Sunday afternoons. We played Star Wars role playing. As they grew older, we moved on to Scrabble, Uno, and Munchkin. The group of friends have changed, but the table has stayed the same. We sit down talk with one another across the table, having fun and enjoying each others’ company.

Was it easy to keep up this tradition of the dining room table? No. We struggled. There were some weeks where we didn’t sit down often at the table, but we made it a priority. In so doing, we have created memories and taught our children the value of face to face communication. One hard and fast rule has always been, “No electronic devices at the table.” The only exception was if we were reading a book online such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,or if we have some quiet classical music playing while we eat. The kids tried to push this rule only a couple of times. They never got far.

As a parent, I believe this one tradition has been very valuable. We got to know our kids. We were able to feel the pulse of their world. When friends would come over, we got to know them as well.  Our table with young children resembled Duskya and Cerulean’s in Dragon’s Heir:

The meal contained light banter and the general commotion of any meal with two little children.

Once we had teenagers, it reflected Duskya and Cerulean’s table in Dragon’s Cure:

The evening meal followed with much talking and friendly banter. The clean up continued in the same vein.

Both of these scenes although summed up with just a sentence or two reflect the many memories around our dining room table with our children. So, if you have the opportunity to create a family tradition, I would suggest reinstating the family dining room table. Use it for more than just a fancy tablecloth (although my kids learned how to deal with a fancy meal as well at our table). Let your table become a place of laughter, stories, and memories.