Happy, Quiet and Content....

Today was a pretty nice 4th of July all in all. This morning, I got up early and the little 14 year old girl on my street watched the kids for an hour and a half while I ran the lake. It was perfect outside -- overcast and misty, which made the run so easy. I could've run it twice if I had the time, but I said I'd be back in an hour, so once around it was.

Cute story...as I was walking to my car, there were bunches of people around the lake because Wakefield has an all day celebration in the town and around the lake before culminating with a fireworks display at night; so I'm heading towards my car when a little girl I smiled at tells me to come see the rat they found. It seems someone let loose a domesticated pet rat at the lake, and it's made a home there. Poor little thing. I tried to catch him because I thought I'd bring him home - we have a hamster cage that he'd love, and he must be so scared! Well, he nipped at me when I tried to pick him up so I figured, eh...he's adjusting. But he was so flipping cute, I just loved him.

Anyway, once I got home my girlfriend Nancy came by and she, the kids and I went to a neighbors house for a cookout. It was only us, and I brought a bunch of steak for the grill, and potato salad, a garden salad, chips and salsa -- and they cooked up some other things, so while the kids played in their pool, we all sort of just hung around. It was nice because truly, I don't see my neighbors all that often, unless it's at my house and I'm too busy grilling for like 60 people so I can't socialize.

So people often ask me, "do you take the kids to see the fireworks?" and my answer is always no. Why? Well, here's why. Because it's 8:55 and both kids are in bed sound asleep. I have schedules and routines for them, and even when it's a special occasion they're generally tired at this juncture - most especially after spending a day in the pool. So every fourth of july by this time of night I'm usually in my pajamas (which I am) and getting ready to watch the fireworks on television (which I will do.)

Oh, and thankfully the Sox have found their swings and pitching is settling in a little bit. I'm really hoping that something develops before the trade deadline because we are sorely lacking in middle relief. MLBTraderumors.com doesn't have anything on there that looks overly exciting at the moment, so I guess we'll just have to sit tight and see.

Living in MA and being in Boston is such a very cool thing on the fourth of July; it's pretty cool in general, but especially so on this day each year.

"Land where our fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride...from every mountain side - let freedom ring!".