Bayou 4th of July in Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana

At nine years old, the seven hour drive down to my Great Grandmother's house in Blanks, Louisiana seemed like the longest seven hours of my life. This was still before Nintendo invented the Gameboy, so about the only thing to do on the way down there was read a book, or stare out the window and watch the trees fly past. I can still remember how the anticipation would start to build as we would start to see the swamps with the moss hanging from the trees. Nannie, my Great Grandmother, passed away in 1992 when I was 12 going on 13. I can still see her sitting in her rocking chair, on her screened-in front porch with the biggest smile on her face to see us pull in her driveway.

This particular year, we were having a 4th of July family reunion. I had cousins and relatives I had never heard of coming from all over the country to Blanks. Blanks is a small town. My Aunt ran the local post office, which was at the end of Nannie's drive way right next to the house. So I remember pulling up to Nannie's house and seeing all of the cars lined up, and a friendly family baseball game in the yard. Nannie's yard was huge to me, coming from Dallas, and a smaller city yard, seeing that much space in a front yard made my eyes get huge. I was just starting to play little league, so I was ready to play some ball! I can still hear her voice as I walked up the steps to give her a hug. I can still remember what her eyes looked like through her glasses. I also remember the feeling of the humidity of the bayou as I walked through the thick southern Louisiana air.

There was enough room on the other side of the front yard for about a football field's worth of folding tables with more food than I had ever seen in my life. Blackened chicken, Cajun this and that, I was overwhelmed, but I knew that it smelled delicious. I wasn't a scared eater as a kid, I just didn't mind trying things. I could hear my Great Aunt Elsie in the kitchen talking about making her roux for the gumbo. There were family members everywhere, and I jumped in the baseball game as soon as I could. My cousin John was playing of course, who I looked up to, so I of course wanted to be on his team. I only got to bat once, but I got a hold of a pitch pretty good and hit a double. I can still feel how satisfying it was to get that hit in front of my family. After the game we headed over to the tables to eat as much food as we possibly could.

Along with the variety of food that was available, I remember that one section of tables contained only desserts. When I think back on that table, it is as if it had a golden glow emanating from behind it and I distinctly recall the sound of angels singing. I did try the food, but to tell the truth, I must have eaten an entire pecan pie by myself and almost a gallon of homemade vanilla ice cream. Eating all of that food, along with the baseball game, I was ready for a nap.

I woke up in the golden part of the afternoon, just as the sun was setting outside. I heard through my waking, a familiar "pop" sound from outside the window that could only mean one thing, fireworks! I ran outside to see what was going on, and I saw my dad and my Uncle Steve popping lady fingers fire crackers. The best part to me, was not only watching them, but hearing their stories about how when they were my age the fireworks were so much better. No cherry bombs any more, but I heard stories about the things my Dad and his brother used to blow up! I had never popped a fire cracker on my own, but this time my dad let me light and throw one lady finger. The excitement and fear all at the same time was enough to make my heart race.

The sun went down and we fired fire crackers into the night. The last sight in this old dusty memory was that of thousands of lightening bugs as they made their way across Nannie's yard. They were twinkling everywhere all around us. We ran inside to get Mason jars as fast as we could and we ran around trying to catch as many fireflies as we possibly could. I must have captured twenty or so before I put the lid on and watched them blink. The grownups sat on the porch and told us stories about how they did the same thing when they were our age.