Boom!

I have this picture (which, of course, is not digital and therefore not postable) from nine years ago of Jason and me watching fireworks on the National Mall. We are there with a crowd of new friends, we had just met a week or two before, and it was the first time we had gone downtown for the fireworks. It was also the last time, until this year.


Luckily, this year we didn't have to stake out a spot in the scorching heat for hours or walk home afterward (that year, 2002, it was 96 degrees outside when Krystal, Amanda (who was visiting), and I got home at midnight. Um, yikes.). This time we had connections. This time we got invited to watch the fireworks on the balcony outside the Secretary of Interior's office, with Secretary Salazar and a hundred or so "close friends." MJ got to come too, which made it even more fun. After months of feeling fizzled out, it was nice to have something pleasant come of all this work!


The fireworks were AMAZING! We were literally right there--they were going off in our faces, and we could feel them in our throats. When the finale started, we felt pinned to the wall, as though we were being shot at. It was unbelievably awesome. That is definitely how I like to do the downtown fireworks!