Stuff To Share

For Evan's first Fourth of July, I figured I'd get a handful of quiet fireworks so he could be dazzled by the lights and not frightened by the sounds. I popped into one of those strip-mall firework stands to make myself a collection. I grabbed a mess of sparklers and a couple of those "shower of sparks" things you put on the ground and light.

I'm now here (post-show) to report that it was all pretty underwhelming. The spark showers were short lived. The special trick of the Sidewinder wasn't all that special - after shooting sparks upward for 4 seconds, they started shooting at a slight angle before disappearing 4 seconds later. When sparklers are the highlight of your show, you know you're in trouble.

As we were heading inside, I pondered where fireworks manufacturers had gone wrong since I was a kid. Then, I remembered that I had gotten the whole bangless she-bang for about $8. In retrospect, I guess the excitement of the occasional spark and the peril of picking up supposedly-spent fireworks was worth about that much. So, shame on me for not splurging on one of those expensive pre-selected package deals.