4th of July

 Today is erev July 4, long a favorite holiday, from when I was a little boy right up until today. As a kid, it meant Summer, which meant no school and Little League and hanging with my friends, and my birthday was 2 weeks after July 4, and as the late born of 3 siblings, my parents made it a big deal.

July 4 in my childhood was a picnic at Salisbury, later Eisenhower Park. Lord -- I'm so old I was born when they renamed the place to honor the WW II general and last President of the 50s.  My parents let me bring some friends, and we would sit on the great lawn eating (watermelon was always involved) and then the great fireworks show would happen.

When I got to my pre-teens, the celebration shifted to my friend Mark's house -- his parents allowed us to have fireworks, while my father was a definite NO on that front. By 13 or 14 we were making our own, up in Mark's room, by splitting hundreds of firecrackers open with razor blades to get the gunpowder to make even bigger bombs. We were lucky the only permanent injury was some hearing loss to my friend Eric, which came from an explosion too close to his left side. It seemed hilarious at the time. Today, ATF would probably charge us as domestic terrorists.

And then we turned 16, and made a startling discovery. We all had NY Learner's Permits, which allowed us to drive with parents, and they were paper documents. The typeface was exactly the same as a Smith Corona typewriter I had. After several attempts, like would be forgers, we took turns typing a 0 over the 1 in our birthdays -- making us all born in 1960 instead of 1961, and therefore 18 and of legal drinking age.

We tried out the fruits of our criminality at Rum Bottoms, a local bar that had wet t shirt contests. We couldn't have been prouder if we all got accepted to Harvard -- this was far more fun.

And then on July 4, we walked to Beefsteak Charlies, in the Nassau Mall, famous for all the beer, wine, or sangria you could drink with your dinner. And we did just that, followed by a walk the 4 miles to Eisenhower Park, in search of LI foxes. No foxes, but we all passed out from the alcohol watching the fireworks -- Mark and Gerry supplemented their buzzes with weed -- never really my thing -- and it was a fine July 4 for a bunch of bored 17 Long Island blue collar boys.

I recall only one sad July 4 -- 1982. Dad had suffered a big heart attack, and was at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton. He insisted I take Mom to see fireworks, and we went to a display at FAU. We felt awful. He got out of the hospital on July 7, seemingly recovered, but would die a week later right after his doctor's visit to Dr. Heller, a fellow whose ability I always doubted.

When the Ds got a bit older, July 4 was a parade down 107 Avenue organized by their JCC Summer Camp -- a lovely event that made us all feel we were in small town America instead of suburban Miami.

Later on, for several years, I booked us rooms and a cabana at the Biltmore -- the day was spent poolside, drinking pina coladas, and then a prime spot for their fireworks. We did that for years.

I thought about doing it this year, now that the grandsons would appreciate it, but we were supposed to be getting off a Disney cruise today, and I figured after 4 nights together, D1 and her family would have had enough of Wifey and me. Maybe next year...

Tomorrow I'm going full on 'Murican -- baseball! I bought 4 tickets to the 1 pm Marlins game, and Norman, Barry, and his boy Josh and I plan to attend. Norman has to rush home afterwards to care for a post surgical Doodle, but hopefully Barry and Josh and I can hit Cafe La Trova, the great Cuban place in Little Havana, minutes from Marlins Park, or whatever random corporate name the stadium has now.

If not -- just back home -- and D2 and Jonathan may be coming over. Their enormous puppy Betsy HATES fireworks, and where they live on Miami Beach, there are lots of them. So they may spend the night with her -- I hope they do. I'll make Jonathan have some patriotic martinis with me.

Boy is our beloved nation screwed up -- more divided than any time in my lifetime. Still -- Barry reminds us -- anyone doubting how great we are just need look at the stack of requests he gets for young med school grads DYING to come here for training. I think some guys even offered to wash his car! I thought those guys should get in -- that much enthusiasm for the program ought to trump high grades.

Hopefully the political pendulum swings back away from the Trumpers. At some point, the rank and file have to see through his fraud. The latest is that his SCOTUS justices just decided a case against LGBTQ rights based on a fantasy -- supposedly a gay guy sought web page help in Colorado, and Colorado had a law prohibiting discrimination. The Supremes ruled Colorado can't do that. Problem is -- it was a fake -- the guy supposed to be gay wasn't -- it was a fake case! And SCOTUS ruled on it!

I was in the bottom of my law school class, and even I know cases have to be based on real injuries or damage. You can't rule on what a law MAY do -- it has to have affected you. The SCOTUS might as well have ruled on a law that hurts unicorns.

So yeah -- we have a lot of undoing to undo the damage done. But I hope we can -- for my grandkids' and kids' sake.

But for tomorrow -- it's Happy Birthday, USA. I am so blessed my 4 grandparents fled Tsarist controlled Russia near the turn of the 20th Century and made it here, so my parents could be born in The Bronx, and I in Queens.

I'm thankful my late consuegros emigrated from Israel, on account of the economy in 1960, so Wifey could become American, and that the Ds suegros did the same from Colombia and Venezuela to they could start families with my Ds.

So here's to a Marlins win! And more importantly, to a great July 4th for this cool, rocking grandaddy in the USA.