En route to Austin...

Just so y'all know, I've been in Oklahoma for the 4th of July weekend en route to Matt and my future 3 years in Austin Texas. And I must say that this really is a fine season for Oklahoma folk. I will admit that their "Fireball Classic 10K" gave me a slab of humble pie in the form of obscene levels of humidity and hills that out numbered the flat straight aways. That's okay though. What's great about this Sweeney family is that their only question about my racing the 10K when I came home was "did you finish?" Since I can answer that with an affirmative they have given me all kinds of validating praise without even knowing my time. I will say that I finished in what flames of glory one can after being assaulted with what turns out to be "one of the toughest 10K courses in the state". This is a bit of what I looked like at the end. Perhaps these pics will be worth more than my words here.

Truly what was noteworthy, however, is the "I'm not in Utah anymore" feeling I got when the fireworks came out that night. In the words of my Grandmother Brooks: My Land, it was a spectacle! The ones we watched that came from the park were the same post-baseball game effect one often gets in a stadium. The difference in a place like this is that you can set those same giant fireworks off at home! When anybody tries to pull the whole "everything's bigger in Texas"...I may just have to refer them to the following image taken of a good and proper Ada teenager in Oklahoma:

I was astounded. Really. Kind of scared but whenever it got bad I remembered the strategically placed kiddie pool in their backyard. Somehow I reassured myself with enough rationalization to enjoy the evenings "Zips" that skyrocket up in a whistle then flashed different colors while zipping towards us on the porch as if it had a honing device. I just visualized plexiglass in front of my face and was thus able to avoid being too much of the whiney safety supervisor trying to ruin everybody's fun.

Considering the circumstances, I am going to go ahead and say that I did pretty well with letting Matt have a bit of fun shooting a Roman Candle from his hand into the back fields of his yard but also limiting him to only lighting one of those spastic Zips. I do think that next time I could ease up a bit during the firework extravaganz. And of course I do have a score to settle with the Fireball Classic. Indeed, I hope to take part in another Ada 4th of July soon.