4th of July 2019
Aunt Heather, Uncle Erik, Uncle Joe and the occasional cousin have been running the Arbutus Firecraker 10K for a number of years. This year Aunt Heather began lobbying the cousins to run the race. Gradually they assented, from our family it was Megan who said yes. In all, 10 of the cousins agreed to run/walk.
We have no experience with races so we didn't know any of the in or outs of race day. We hadn't even watched a race, much less had a participant. Bridget and I were both excited to cheer the crew on, and Megan was ready to run. I had scoped out the race course through Arbutus and decided we would try to catch the runners 3 times along the course. First at the beginning on Sulfer Spring, then mid race on East Drive, and finally at the finish line. We got Megan to the registration tent with plenty of time, and we got a few pre-race pictures of the family. Bridget and I then headed off to our first location on the route. We cheered as each family member came by either running or walking, Megan and Katherine were together. Everyone looked good and fresh as they started out. Bridget and I then got in the car and drove toward our second spot, only to discover that the road we needed to take was blocked off for a soap box derby. There weren't any other options so we parked and walked down to East Drive. Just as the race course was in sight we saw Joseph, the first of the family to run by. Quickly followed by Martin and Peter Jauquet. We walked down a bit farther and met up with Ed, Becky, Ben and Sarah and joined them to cheer as the rest of the family went by. Everyone looked really hot at this point. Megan and Katherine were still together and toward the back of the race but moving. Aunt Heather and Lillian came by together, a little later and got rushed by Ben and Bridget with water guns. Matthew was the last of family to come by and he was followed by police cars who were opening the roads back up behind him. Matthew had his ear buds in and a steady pace. I was so proud of all of them.
Then Bridget and I walked back up the hill and the closed roads. Were were hot and sweaty but knowing that so many other people were still running kept us from complaining. Then we drove toward the finish line and didn't have a good parking option so we had to park far away. But we were happy to make it to the finish line in time to see Megan. We cheered like crazy as she took some long strides in. The racers mulled around for a while and then prizes were handed out to the top in each age group. I had thought Megan would be exhausted, but instead she was upbeat and is a wash of an endorphin rush. Her feet were less happy and she peeled off her shoes, to then step on a bee. It didn't seem to bother her much. We got some post run photos and made our way back home.
Jim had to work so we passed each other, looking forward to getting back together later that night. I wrangled the kids, food and gear over to the Shumaker's where we got ready for the parade. It started to drizzle as we got ready to walk over but we were prepared with umbrellas.
The rain went away as people began to arrive for the party. We laid out the food in the Shumaker's kitchen, and set up chairs in the back yard. The kids got to playing. Rachael had some friends meet her there and later they went to join more friends at the fireworks. Emma got together with her friends and popped in and out. I am so glad that as adults they still want to hang out with us. And I know they wouldn't want a 4th of July without Rocket Pops.
Grandma Kate and PawPaw joined the party for dinner and Jim arrived after a slow day at Guinness. It was good to have him for the rest of the evening.
I had been talking about being ready to pass on the responsibility of managing the sparkler lighting every year and lo and behold, Martin picked up the task. Matthew stepped in to be the second set of hands. It was strange after more than a decade to not be in charge, but I knew the boy scouts were up to the challenge. I sat back and finished my dessert.
We ended out night with glow bracelets and the Catonsville fireworks display. It was another fabulous year to celebrate our country's independence with family in a town that gets this holiday right.
