The Fourth Time's The Charm

Mom drove like a NASCAR driver down Route 50 toward the Pentagon. At one point, on Washington Boulevard in Arlington, she saw a police officer closing the road, so she hopped the median while I shrieked that she was going to pop a tire, tore off in the other direction, looped around and managed to get us in the parking lot in time to open the car's sunroof just as the first fireworks went off. We stood up and watched the fireworks with our torsos sticking out of the sunroof, then, as the finale ended, dropped back into the car and she peeled off again, beating the traffic jam out of the Pentagon's parking lot and delivering us home by 10 p.m. It was a truly heroic moment.

This year probably won't be heroic, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless. I'm sitting in my apartment as I write this, in fact, and I can see where the fireworks are going to go off-it's definitely even better than anticipating Christmas morning or the first bite of Thanksgiving turkey.

For those of you who aren't coming to my apartment, The Washington Post has put together an excellent guide to 4th of July activities around the area, including an events listing, links to relevant articles, information about security efforts and procedures, and maps of the best places to view the fireworks on the Mall. It's a great resource, and will continue expanding over the next few days as the holiday approaches.

Happy Fourth!

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