Meg Dowell Writes

Let’s be honest with ourselves here: July 5th is nowhere as awesome as July 4th.

It’s pretty much the same way with every holiday. The day after Christmas is nothing compared to December 25th. You never eat as much that Friday after Thanksgiving than you did the day before…all you do is sit around, feel lazy, and text all your friends because you’re too far away from home to hang out with them. The worst of all, though, is the day after your birthday. All the excitement has worn off, it’s not all about you anymore, and all you can do is think about next year, and all of the things that are probably going to happen to you between the two dates.

Yesterday when I was hanging out with two ten-year-olds (it really isn’t as bad as it sounds), I found my Christmas box. It’s the box I stuffed pretty much all of my Christmas gifts into the day after Christmas, when I was heavily disappointed that I would have to wait another year to have Christmas spirit again. I found about a million things I’d forgotten I had, like hot chocolate, honey roasted peanuts, a notebook, and, most importantly, FOUR new, never-used, purple ink pens.

Okay, so there weren’t exactly 1,000,000 things. But the pens got me pretty excited.

Yesterday was a pretty interesting Independence Day, mainly because it was the first time I remember it raining on July 4th in a long time. When I woke up and saw the clouds, I knew things weren’t going to go as I had originally imagined that they would. That’s been happening to me a lot lately.

Anyway, we drove a couple blocks to the parade and hopped out in sweatshirts, carrying umbrellas. It was pretty difficult to give Evie-darling a tackle hug, so I just settled for a normal hug instead. I still almost poked her eye out, but she forgave me.

 She also gave me my birthday present, which I couldn’t stand to walk away with unopened. Her card was amazing (a bunch of sheep making the baaaaaaah sound!) and an iTunes card, which I gladly spent on Demi Lavato’s old CD as soon as I got home. (Don’t Forget has some pretty good songs, but I’m still really excited for her newest CD to come out on the 21st. I have $16.00 left on my account, which I’m forcing myself to save, just in case Apple decides to do all their price changes in the next few weeks.)

The parade was no different in the dreary rain as it would have been in the sunshine, except for the fact that I held my umbrella in one hand and wet candy in the other. There were still fire trucks (I saw the fireman that gave me a ride in one when I was seven, for that contest I didn’t deserve to win!), there were still cheerleaders from my school, and my church van still drove by (I got a frisbee!). I can honestly say, though, the baaaaaaaah’ing sheep was the best part.

You would think that candy trading and Wii Tennis with a ten-year-old and a soon-to-be-ten-year-old would be terrifying, but it wasn’t. It was actually fun. I drew the line, though, when they brought out the plastic play food and wanted me to be the McDonald’s casheir. I retreated safely to my room at that point.

When JD got here, someone actually close to my age, all four of us played the best game of hide-and-seek I’ve ever played in my entire life. No one would have ever thought to look underneath my parents’ bathroom sink, but my brother was still there. We had to pause the game to eat our dinner and then resume afterwards. I had the best hiding spot ever, until I sneezed. Stupid dust bunnies.

The fireworks we usually go to every year were cancelled because of the rain, which made me sad. But we did drive around for about half an hour before we found some good ones and a place to watch them. Who cares if we were all standing in the parking lot of an apartment building? It was still a night I’ll never forget.

Today looks like it’s going to be another boring, rainy day. Normally, this would upset me. I would do one of those sun dances, like the one they did on the best show ever, hoping and possibly even praying that the sun would come out (I’m all about the tanning).

But I don’t mind the rain today. Rain and clouds and yuck means I get a day of total relaxation. No helping out in the garden, making sure my cat doesn’t eat all of the cat nip, or any of that stuff. I’m pretty content on days like this to sit in my room, listen to music, and write. Maybe I’ll even read Chapter 23 in my Econ book like my teacher “highly suggested.” If I’m feeling like a good girl, that is.

JulNoWriMo is going well, I’m happy to say. I’m at 16,836 words as of last night. This chapter I’m working on right now has been a tough one to get through, but I’m almost done. The story is moving along. Evie says she’s already emotionally attached to the characters.

Since it doesn’t appear my family is planning on going anywhere this morning, I think I’d better go make sure they’re all alive (you never know, when my dad smoked ribs for the first time ever yesterday). Have an okay day-after, and remember: it’s okay to take a cookie; no one’s watching.

Love&hugs, Meg♥

p.s. I lied about the best show ever being Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide. It’s either this one or this one. End of story. No takebacks.