Excerpts of the Craig Chronicles: July 4th Festiviteis

We started with a parade in Provo. So that means for the parade starting at 9:30 am, I had to leave home by 8 am. I left at 8:15 am. I was the first one there. The road was so crowded. I parked in a lot about a 15 minute walk from the parade route. Right by the Provo City Temple. So I stopped on the corner and stayed there. There wasn't any place to really set up. That was fine. There was a lot of space for the kids to move.

Sarah and Brady came next, but they wanted to set up chairs and didn't like that I said it was like this the whole route so they left and started walking to find a space they could set up. My parents got their, and five minutes later we left and headed across the street to find Sarah and Brady. They said they found a spot to set up chairs. And they did. We set up chairs on the third road, only to find out that the kids couldn't see and people didn't really appreciate the kids weaving in and out of their chairs.

So I was pretty pissed off. Didn't even really want to stay at this point. But I stayed for the kids. We found a tiny little spot on the very edge of the sidewalk to sit and watch the parade. I liked the other place better. More space for the kids to run around and not be right next to the adults sitting in chairs. Anyway, we stayed sitting in that little space, and the more pictures I took the more I relaxed. But I still was angry at Sarah for making me feel like she was better than I was because she found a spot for chairs. And then a few days later, I was talking to Jake and Bindy, and then I read a quote from Elder David A. Bednar that said “Certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.”
And so I tried really hard to let go of those feelings of anger.

Back to the parade: we were there for an hour. An no candy was thrown. The floats were endless as well as the old military cars. Lots of horses. The kids seemed to be bored after a while. But they were well behaved.

After the parade we headed to the car. And met my parents up at the University Mall in Orem for some lunch. Before we went to the mall we went to Arctic Circle for ice cream. Then Sarah and Brady went home, because she had to work, and I headed home to start getting dinner ready. My family came to my house for fireworks and a BBQ. Jake of course put on a good firework show. The kids loved it. We also had a water fight with little water guns. Sydney hates getting wet so she was really sad for a while.

I did have to kick Jake's butt into being a good sport on this holiday. He was very angry about how President Trump and the republicans basically made it out to be that if you celebrated America, said the pledge, or wore any Americana colors then you couldn't possibly be anything but republican. And Jake is very much a democrat, and against Trump. Where as my parents are very republican and for Trump. And so he was angry. He didn't want to do fireworks. Or anything. So I told him he wasn't going to ruin this holiday for our children, who do not understand those things or feelings. And that he had better suck it up and participate. And he did. So I was very grateful for that.