This is a follow up from the post called Fireworks. You might want to read that one first, but if you don’t want to, that’s ok too.
We really do have a lot to talk about. Living here means we never run out of things to ponder and reflect on. Meg and I can always fill the blank spaces at night with interesting things that happen here. Meg wasn’t home when I talked to the kids in the alley about shooting off fireworks. When she got home we talked it through quick to process everything and made a couple of texts the appropriate people. It’s usually not until later in the night that the weight of living here sinks in, especially when something unusual happens. I tend to think that it is just too overwhelming sometimes to process in the moment. I tend to connect the dots quickly, but don’t reflect on the enormity of those dots. The future isn’t going to be kind to that girl. She is going to struggle. Unfortunately, she is going to struggle much in the same way her mom does. When you think about the heaviness of knowing what is realistically going to happen 15 years down the road, you have to have someone to process that with. So again, we have lots to talk about. I couldn’t imagine being able to live here without having Meg to talk things through with. It wouldn’t work.
The fireworks didn’t die down until well after we went to sleep. Maybe it was because it was Juneteenth or maybe everyone is tired of quarantine or whatever you call what we are in right now, but the fireworks just kept coming. I almost feel bad for telling the to stop, but not really.
We talked until about ten and figured it was getting late and we should probably head in to bed. I went in to brush my teeth and Meg let the dog out. She had been inside because she is afraid of the fireworks. I had the toothbrush in my mouth for about ten seconds when I heard Meg yell to get outside now. There had been a loud bang right before that and I honestly thought someone had been murdered or something crazy was going on.
Instead, Meg was jumping on the trampoline and wanted me to join her. So I did, with my toothbrush still in my mouth. We jumped on the trampoline for a couple of minutes like two high school kids. The toothbrush made it’s way to the side of the trampoline and we jumped while listening to the fireworks go off all around us. Just a couple of kids jumping on a trampoline in the middle of the ghetto. Eventually we went inside, finished brushing our teeth and went up to bed. It was the perfect end to an eventful Juneteenth.