Fourth of July in England

Last week we celebrated July 4th (while living with the enemy :)) It was important to the kids to mark the occasion. Honestly, we did a more official celebration here than we ever did in the US, mostly because Rebecca's birthday the day before had always overshadowed the 4th. But living in a foreign country made it especially important for the kids, I think. (It's interesting how personal identity and nationalism intersect...)

My mom was in town, so she joined us for an American BBQ in England. Eric managed to get the barbecue going without lighter fluid. He used stacks and stacks of sticks gathered by grandma and the kids, all the while muttering about having a hippy wife who wouldn't let him use modern chemicals...Fortunately, his history of childhood arson served him well in this case (you can ask Eric what I'm talking about here...:))




We had all the traditional BBQ foods for a 4th of July party: watermelon, corn on the cob, hot dogs, chips. And we roasted marshmallows for dessert.


We ate it outside, because we've been having a string of bizarrely sunny and warm days and high temperatures.


Celebrating the 4th here in England made me reflect on how quickly the global geopolitical balance shifts. I mean, 300 years ago, the 4th of July didn't exist as a holiday, and Americans were British. 200 years ago, the Americans and British were enemies who had just fought their second war in short succession. 100 years ago the two countries hadn't been at war for a long time, but were only beginning to actively consider each other allies. Now, of course, there is a "special relationship." Just interesting to think about. What will the world look like in another century?



Comments

  1. GC9 July 2018 at 12:44

    We had so much fun!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rachel9 July 2018 at 13:22

    Yes we did! Once we got the fire going, that is :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. din'illahi9 July 2018 at 22:16

    i think you made a booboo. doesn't 'chips' mean fries over there? (-:
    I like Eric's knee high grill.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rachel10 July 2018 at 05:51

      Yeah, chips are fries. But these weren't crisps, they were Sunchips, so I called them chips...The grill came with our cottage. Definitely not Eric-sized :)

      Delete

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