4th of July Blog Hop!

Fireworks.

I love 'em. The sounds--the sizzle, the pops, the booms. I love the way you can feel the sound in your lungs, in your feet because the very ground shakes with each explosion.

I love the smell of burned matches and lit fuses and the thick scent of rocket smoke as the heavy clouds linger low in the air.

I love the lights--those flashes of colorful chemical incandescence that lend the brilliance of noon day sun to the smoky twilight. The colors flash off every leaf, every pair of eyes and the flames are, for a moment, a living part of us.

And then...

it's over.

Darkness. Silence. The fireworks are over. We hang on a breath, wondering--is this all there is? Was it over? And a part of us is truly disappointed that the fireworks are done.

Life is like that. Love is like that. Every bright and wonderful thing we've ever known is like that--bursts of light and sound that interrupt sleepy doldrums of uninspired predictability. We live moment to moment, hoping each one will be brighter than the last. And every once in a while we get fireworks--moments that burn so brightly that they leave fiery afterimages burning on our retinas for long seconds afterwards. We don't even notice the dark silence because the sounds of fireworks still echo through our ears.

Driving home from work tonight, I saw fireworks that someone in the neighborhood set off. The moon is near full and, between the lunar luminescence and the intermittent bursts, I could see dark shapes of trees like silhouettes against the sporadic light. I wanted to roll down the car window and take as deep a breath as I could. Seeing them weren't enough.

Then I remembered--these weren't the only fireworks I loved. My husband's lightning strike smile, my kids' bursts of laughter, those flash-and-fade victories and achievements of all shapes and sizes that get us day to day.

See this feeling right here?

There's a trick to making those moments last-- acknowledge them. Appreciate the work it takes to earn them. Savor the fuse and linger after the lights begin to fade.

Don't go though life stuck indoors with the windows closed. Go outside and enjoy the fireworks, living each burst as it blooms.

Fireworks are my favorite part of the Forth of July celebrations...what are yours?

Leave a comment and be entered to win a e-copy of BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde, available for Kindle or Nook/epub formats (winner's choice).

And be sure to visit the other bloggers this week who are setting off fireworks of their own. Good luck and Happy Independence Day!