It was a crazy,kind of lame July fourth, I have to say. I tried to organize some kind of get together with all our American friends, but very few were able to make it, and then most of them went ahead and planned their own party without me, so yeah, a bit of a let down. Also, Noah had a piano recital that evening, which limited our ability to invite others over, or join a bigger group.
Also, this was the first year that I just didn’t feel that into it. Normally I play the Star Spangled Banner in the morning and get all teary eyed. And I talk to the kids about some aspect of American history and get a bit emotional again. But this year, it was like Eh, whatever. The America I grew up in seems so different from the America that exists now. Perhaps if I lived there it wouldn’t feel so dramatic because the changes would have happened gradually , or because I only hear about the sensational changes that are big enough to merit international coverage. Whatever the reason, the old zing just wasn’t there. Maybe it would have been better if we were able to celebrate with other Americans, I just don’t know.
Still, I made our traditional Fourth of July lunch of hamburgers, potato salad. and I even made some Jello, which is an imported specialty. 🙂 And of course, we made the traditional red, white and blue drinks that sometimes work and sometimes just end up purple!
That evening we went to Noah’s piano recital. We got there just before it started,since I first had to take Sarah to her violin lesson, then come home and pick up everyone else, and so found only a few seats in the not-quite-big-enough room. Some of us had to stand in the back the whole time. 
This is him waiting to go on. Because of where we were sitting, we couldn’t even get a photo of him actually playing, And I admit that as soon as Noah had finished playing his piece, we motioned for him to come join us and we all snuck out the back and went home early. Normally when the kids ask to leave a recital early we tell them we need to stay and support the other children but no one was feeling it this night, so we just bailed. There were even a few of our kids’ friends who were playing, but it was hot, uncomfortable, and it was a holiday, so we left. Noah played very nicely, and there is something awfully cute about seeing those little spindly legs dangling from a piano bench. 🙂