As you all know, I love our 4th of July. Parades, BBQ’s, swimming, and fireworks. The only way that it gets better is if I have corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes with cottage cheese and pork steaks on the pit. And don’t forget the watermelons. Seems that around this time of year is when the big trucks come up from Arkansas loaded with melons. And we were safe.
I will digress for a moment: as kids in the summer we used to stand down at the IGA on Frost avenue and watch them unload melons. All the time hoping they would drop one. Usually the men unloading would be watch us and then “accidentally” drop one and then turn to us and ask us if we could help them by eating the melon. Those melons didn’t stand a chance. But we were safe.
Another memory is of baseball. Not MLB or little league, I’m talking pickup ball at the fields down in Frostwood between the swimming pool and Hobo Jungle (the woods by the railroad tracks behind Ameren UE). When I was young, hobos would camp in the woods and be able to hop a freight. But we were safe.
Baseball was our life when we were young. We played everyday before going swimming. Think of the movie “Sandlot”: a lot of goofy kids that loved the game. When we weren’t playing ball or swimming we were listening to the Cardinals: Harry Caray and Jack Buck when they announced together – before Caray went to Chicago. But we were safe.
When I think of the 4th of July, these are some of the memories I hold dear.
I pray everyone will stop and think for a moment. Please be safe this year. Celebrate without guns. Leave your guns locked up at home. So we will be safe.
You all probably think I am an anti-gun fanatic. Nope. I was a gunners mate on a destroyer. Shot a lot of guns. I am a gun owner. I used to hunt. I enjoy going to meat shoots. But bullets are like words. Once they leave the muzzle there is no getting them back..
Be safe – Papa Deau
