The Fourth of July holiday is upon us here in the United States. As I write this post, the fireworks have started. It has got me thinking back to the Independence days I spent with my friend Toby.
The majority of dogs that I know are afraid of fireworks. Toby wasn't afraid of fireworks. They made him angry. When the fireworks started he would growl his deep growl. If he spotted someone outdoors shooting off fireworks, he would bark and bark at them to try to get them to stop. In order to keep Toby from going completely apoplectic, I had to turn on the Jazz loud so it drowned out the fireworks.
I remember a particular fireworks incident. Keep this in mind. The people in the town where we lived were crazy with fireworks. It's a wonder the whole town hasn't burned to the ground. Some irresponsible people were shooting fireworks one night and they shot one that actually hit me in the head while I was sitting on the patio. My Mom saw it and shouted over to the people to stop shooting fireworks over at us. The man shooting fireworks got mad and ran towards my Mom screaming at her. Toby raced over and got in between my Mom and the man. He was growling and barking and the man stopped dead in his tracks then went right back over to his place and didn't shoot any more fireworks that year.
We had a lot of very pleasant memories of the holiday too. We always had a family cookout on the Fourth. I had an old grill that I would fire up, and we either bought T-bone or KC strip steaks. I cooked them and put KC Masterpiece sauce on them. I still like it the best. ( On a side note, I live about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City. The man who originally founded the KC Masterpiece brand had a couple of KC Masterpiece restaurants in the KC metro area. My friend Doug and I used to love to go and eat there. It was our favorite place along with California Pete's and Olive Garden.)
Mom and Dad never really liked to eat outdoors, but Toby and I would sit out at the picnic table and have our holiday dinner. I made sure that he got a portion of the steak without any spicy sauce on it. We had potato salad, Cole slaw and a lot of other good things to eat. One year, we cooked hot dogs, and I enjoyed those about as well as the steak. I don't eat beef anymore, and I don't really miss it. Toby wasn't a big beef fan. He liked chicken. Toby agreed with my Grandpa that the only thing better than chicken was more chicken.
A lot of times on about any summer evening, Toby, me and my Mom would go out back and play games. Toby liked to race with me, and he always won. Our favorite game was hide and seek. I would go and hide while Mom held Toby. She would say, "Go find Garry" and Toby would sniff out the exact path to where I was hidden. When he found me, he would dance around with joy.
I really miss my Mom, my Dad and Toby. We were a family of four who really loved each other. I also miss my friend Doug who I mentioned. He passed away of the flu seven years ago. I know that they are all with Jesus as are my Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles. One day we will all be reunited, not because of anything that we did but because of what Jesus has done for us. We will one day have a joyous reunion. Praise be to God.
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