Life: Idiotropic

For obvious reasons, the 4th of July is not a holiday here. And, there seems to be a bit of bias when it comes to American holidays. All European holidays are celebrated, and embraced with days off of work. If another nationality has a special holiday, their commanders give it to them as a day off without question. In NATO, they work together, but still hold their own cultures and nationalistic pride... unless you're an American. In many ways, where Kirk works, the Americans are treated differently, and one of those ways is holidays.

We live in Germany and I certainly don't expect that Kirk should get all of our holidays off, but it seems to be that the Independence Day of our nation would be one of those exceptions. But, they're not, so on this past 4th of July, Kirk worked a long day. I didn't see any fireworks on that day - none in the skies and none on tv. And, if is wasn't for a few emails reminding me of it's significance, then I would have forgotten it completely.

The good news is that we did get to celebrate - though late - we celebrated the 4th on the 8th.

And it was good. There are three bases here all relatively close together where Americans work. It is still a relatively small group that became increasingly evident walking around yesterday. Between Tiara, Kirk, and I, we knew well over half the people at the party.

It was held at the AFNorth base in Brunssum, Netherlands and it really had that summer carnival feel. All the little rides for the preschool kids were free and though they had food for sale, our base had a place set up with free food for it's people. There were a couple bigger rides and a tent with bingo and a little restaurant serving alcohol and ice cream. A country singer twanged from the entertainment tent for most of the day and the weather cooperated with the perfect mix of not too hot and not too cold.

Though it started at noon, we got there just after 5:30, sunblocked and ready to last through fireworks. Before we had a moment to explore, the kids caught sight of the choo-choo and climbed aboard. Arianna helped Elise into it enjoying the chance to be the big helper now that she's five. She reminds us still every day that of her new age, lest we forget. The three little girls rode around probably 6 times on that tiny train waving to me and all others gathered around the track as if they were in a parade. Elise waved, "bye, mom. Bye, mommy. Good-bye."

Getting tired of the circles (they could've stayed there at least another 40 minutes), I urged them off and scuttled them over to the little swings - another big hit. Even Tiara got on them and had fun, though I think she was a little embarrassed. I'd really like to have one of these spinning swing toys in my backyard... strap them in and go. They could be happy there for a while and no pushing!

Kirk and I watched them and talked with friends walking by. The atmosphere was very relaxed, so much, that it felt more like a family BBQ than a festival. The turnout was great, but it never had that over-crowded, pushy feel to it that many events can have and everyone was just having a good time.

After dinner there the girls pursued other rides... Elise jumped over and over and over and over again on the little inflatable trampoline thing. Arianna and Luci joined her for a little while until I coaxed them off for something else.

While I took Arianna and Luci over to the craft tent to paint ceramic bears, Kirk took Elise to the gigantic Bug's Bunny inflatable slide. It was big. It was tall. I thought Elise would be too small... but... she proved us wrong as she ran right past the line of kids 20 persons long, to the entrance and past the lady in charge distracted with another child. Elise may be small, but she is quick and she got up that steep incline with no problem and was down the slide with a smile on her face before anyone could catch her. That started what became the main event of the night. Arianna and Luci ended up spending probably half the night on that slide, patiently standing in line, taking their turns together, getting to the top, then jumping up and falling down onto the soft cushiony slide. Elise, on the other hand, did not stand in line. Not once. Until I caught on, she was running off straight to the entrance and zipping past the lady before anyone could catch her. Up the ramp, down the slide, and over and over again straight past the lady again, and again. Keeping her in line was impossible. If her feet touched ground, she ran to the front of the line. So I stood at the exit, grabbed her as she jumped off, and held her kicking and screaming until Arianna and Luci were to the front of the line, then I'd put her down and she'd be instantly happy taking off up the ramp again.

I'm really amazed at how fast those little legs can go. Elise is still sweet, but the youngest of four, she is a powerhouse and not to be underestimated. Any time that her feet touched ground last night, she was running off somewhere to do what she wanted to do, completely confident in her own capabilities, and it was always a big ride. Little rides would not hold her attention once she knew about the others.


Arianna and Luci were happy the entire time enjoying a little of everything. Though they spent the most amount of time on the big slide, they were more willing to walk around and do something new. Both painted a ceramic bear in the craft tent and both gave them away to friends there.

I told Tiara last night that it feels like we fell asleep and woke up three years later. Last time she was in school, she was in second grade and too young to run off with her friends at a carnival. After 2.5 years of homeschooling her, those opportunities didn't present themselves as much. We transitioned into biking around the neighborhood with friends and she's occasionally ride to the corner market with Lauren, but nothing like last night. Now, in 6th grade, she is so grown up. She knows a TON of people and seems very well liked. Girls came up to her constantly as we walked together saying hello. Once her best friend showed up, then she took off with her. The area was small, so I could always look around and spot her in a gaggle of girls talking and laughing. They went on the bumper cars a lot and just "hung out." It feels good to see her having fun with friends and being more independent, but it is bittersweet. My little girl is growing up.

My favorite ride was the really big swing carousel. All the girls loved it, but it cost money, so we couldn't go on it 20 times. Still, I took Elise and Tiara on it the first time which began another Elise obsession. And the second time I took all three little girls. Elise sat on my lap and the swing went high and spun fast.

Though we didn't partake in the entertainment, we did see cheerleaders from a Florida team - the Florida Jets, I think... but am not sure. They came and danced and had a band of Hawaiin t-shirt wearing bongo drummers playing. That was the show that finished off the evening ending just after 10:30 before the fireworks show. Then the lights dimmed, the music started, and over the loudspeaker we heard, "The Masters of Belgium..." So, our fireworks display was correographed by the Belgium masters. What was particularly funny at first was that with all the drama in the voice we all expected something equally dramatic, but then some little sparklers went off not even half as high as the trees and then we heard, not America the Beautiful, but the theme song to the Titanic. Eventually the show got going, the fireworks display itself was fun, and we all enjoyed Irish music from Riverdance, and the Star Wars theme. Elise started shaking the second it started and shook with her little heart pounding and her hands clinging to me the entire time. I held her ears and Kirk held Arianna's ears. Luci sat there excitedly with a big smile on her face. She loved it. Unfortunately, it ended just as abruptly as it started. I asked Kirk, "Is it really over?" And people started packing up and the lights came on.

Last year I celebrated the 4th of July at Tinker with an air show, great fireworks, and Lee Greenwood capping it off with "I'm Proud to be an American." Last night I walked out after a nice day, shaking my head that I hadn't heard one truly American song... not the anthem, not America the Beautiful, not even a good ol' band march. The theme from Star Wars... that was it - which, to the Belgians, probably is truly American. Really, they have the Mannekin Pis that they all adore, so may be it makes sense.

Oh well. That was our 4th - on the 8th - in Europe. A fun party and well put together. My only complaint really, is that except from one little booth selling flag tattoos and a few people wearing red, white, and blue, it could have been any carnival anywhere. And, though I absolutely love living in Europe. I am an American and I am proud of that. My country is still a great one and I miss it - days like this especially.