Some things to think about (4th of July)

A series of moments that make you think...

I had a great, simple day with friends. We watched some soccer, played fake poker (I lost like usual), ate hot dogs, drank beers, and drank an avocado smoothie.

The smoothie was decent. We decided to make it a little bit more interesting and add some Malibu. It still was weird, but a bit interesting. Kudos to Eric for bringing the avocados and looking up the recipe. If anyone is interested, I'll get it for you.

We then left and headed down to the Valencia Town Center area to watch the fireworks. On the way there I heard some really intense, not-so-good news, about a friend. It's too private to share publicly. This is one of the moments.

We watched the fireworks and they were great. I should have some very amateurish looking pictures up soon, probably tomorrow. Someone asked me if the fireworks made me think of independence and of being an American and what the founding fathers stood for. I looked around and then said, "No. It doesn't." Another moment.

Honestly, I don't know how it makes me feel. I feel great that we can all get together with one purpose and sit and watch the beautiful spectacle and for 30 minutes not yelling or cursing at each other, but just staring at the sky. But I feel far from the origin of the 4th of July. And I really think its hard for any one of us to feel attached to that day and that moment. I'm not going to get on a political rant. I just think it is tough, in this day, for any of us to put ourselves in their shoes, mentally or physically.

We all headed back after the fireworks and chatted a little bit in the driveway and then went our separate ways. I was cursing freeway traffic and getting back to city streets and trying to get from Valencia to Canyon Country when I got a text telling me that someone had died tonight. Another moment.

The person had been hit by a car. It wasn't until I got home that I realized it happened less than a block from where we were. Walking up to where we sat tonight I was thinking that there was no pedestrian or traffic control for the streets that weren't closed. And now after reading the article (1, 2) and the reader comments, I definitely can see how that happened. Its a shame. I hope that family had the most wonderful evening of their life and enjoyed those fireworks with their mother and father.

And on the drive home, the following song came on. If you want to watch the video, go for it. But when I watch, it takes away from the song, don't get me wrong the video is rather epic and moving as well and I highly encourage you to watch it. The song seems very beautiful and has this sadness to it as well.

I felt like I was in a movie. I was on the 14 N and driving in the dark and seeing the lights of the cars and the stores off of the Golden Valley exit and this was playing in the background. It wrapped up the day for me beautifully.

UPDATE: SCVTALK.com had a good write-up on this here.

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