Fellow Queens,

 

I hope you all had a marvelous 4th of July and that your sons still have all their digits. 

 

Here in our hood the biggest thrill is the neighborhood parade. There is no better way to celebrate our country’s independence than by watching the marching bands, the winning baseball teams and sweets-flinging float riders go by. My kids will grab the candy out of the gutter, eat all the Tootsie Rolls, candy bars and gum leaving the broken lollipops for me. When they have a major sugar high worked up we hit the road in a teeny car for 2 hours to be with family. 

 

Good times.

 

We weren’t at the lake house for five minutes when all the men and boys disappeared. Where were they? Off to the fireworks stand, of course. They came back with enough firepower to frighten all the dogs and toddlers in a five mile radius. The absolute zenith was the purchase of a roll of black cat fireworks that was 3 feet in diameter and contained 16,000 individual explosives.  I wish I was kidding, my ears are still ringing.

 

Seriously, what is it about boys and fire?  I guess we can trace it back to the cavemen and blame them.  And in spite of all our lighter hiding, smoke alarms and lectures on fire safety they will still turn into men who will use just a little too much lighter fluid on the back yard BBQ and are the first to drive 100 miles to get contraband fireworks.  And yes, I’m always the one saying "Remember boys, the temperature at the center of a sparkler is 1,800 degrees!"

 

Thank you to all our military men and women, especially our Queens in uniform!!

 

Reign on!

 

Queen Linda