Fireworks

A few days ago, we sat on the sidewalk at some friends house watching fireworks go off. Chance was sitting on the grass next to me, and his dad and his pyrotechnic friend were rigging fireworks to create a show for all of us.

I was talking to someone and turned to check on Chance just as one of those squealing fireworks went off. Chance's eyes got big and he covered his ears yelling,"That is so loud!"

Then it occurred to me that this was the first July that Chance has had both of his implants. He was realizing for the first time that fireworks make lots of noise.

Chance watched in amazement as the sparks flew up in the air and every once in a while, he would uncover his ears only to cover them back up again because the squealing was not over yet.

Chance did not cover his ears when any of the other fireworks went off, just the squealers.
I realized that at the 4th of July parade we attended, that Chance would smile and cover his ears when the simulated gun shots would go off too. "That is so loud!" He would say. None of the other noises phased him at the parade either. He just wanted to figure out where the big bang was coming from when the guns went off.

Chance and his siblings made a flag out of paper and markers the day before the 4th of July parade. They asked me how many lines there were and how many stars they should add. then they wrote,"God Bless America" across the bottom. I didn't think that much about it, until we got to the parade and Chance and his siblings pulled the flag out on a stick to take to the parade with us.

In our area parade, thousands of people line the streets to see floats, balloons, police on motorcycles and soldiers going by. Veterans march from World War II and Vietnam along with those currently in the National Guard. One truck pulled the families of soldiers currently serving in Iraq. Each time any soldiers would march by, the kids would wave their flag. Out of all the people lining the street, several servicemen noticed the flag the kids were waving. Some soldiers saluted and one even ran over to shake the kids hands saying that he had seen their flag and had to come over and meet them. It was quite touching to see how the flag affected the veterans and current soldiers alike. Chance loved it.

So Chance celebrated his first July with bilateral implants and realized that as far as holidays go, this is definitely one of the loudest!