Bang up 4th

This picture has absolutely no connection to today's blog. I just thought it was cute. The baby hippo lost its mother in the tsunami last year and has now adopted the sea turtle to take her place. It's things like this that get me all warm and teary eyed.

Now, back to the 4th. "Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation..." We've all heard those words by Abe Lincoln at some time in our lives, but do we give them much thought?

I get so angry listening to my son bash George W. but I bite my tongue because I don't discuss politics with anyone. My ex-hubby, PD, was shocked after twenty years of marriage to find out that I didn't vote for the same presidential candidate that he did, even though we had never discussed the issue.

Even that is not what I set out to write. I was just remembering this morning as I did a slow creep out of bed, why my back always hurts so much. It was 29 years ago on July 4, 1976, at the insistence (aka badgering) of PD, that we drove around hunting for some fireworks to watch.

That's where "Bang up 4th" comes in. We never made it to the fireworks. Instead, some little twit ran a stop sign and hit the front quarter of our car. Wouldn't you know it was on the passenger side where I was sitting? That purple Plymouth Duster of mine first spun 180 and then rolled.

PD invariably developed tunnel vision when he got behind the wheel, so he never saw it coming. I saw a big blur hurtling toward us, but by then it was too late.

When I woke up, I had a partially crushed vertebrae and I'd taken out the side window with my head(PD wasn't hurt). Six weeks later I got out of the hospital. That is after PD brought his girlfriend to meet me in intensive care.

So what's my point? I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Just don't have a "Bang up 4th"!