There will be fireworks tonight. The lights are my favorite part.
Thinking about fireworks reminds me of the first time I tried to buy a lighter in Alabama around 4th of July. (I moved from Hartford, CT to New Castle, AL in 1990.) The gas station cashier told me I wasn’t old enough to buy a lighter. You have to be 19 years old to buy a lighter in Alabama.
That was hilarious and ironic, because in Hartford, I used to buy my mother Salem 100s cigarettes at whatever corner store she sent me to with money. I laugh now, but it wasn’t funny as a kid. We had to light our incense on a stove.
I think this was something that set the precedence for my fascination with cultural differences. Groups can very so much. It’s weird, awesome, or scary what things are norms among people.