Fear and fascination of fireworks

My parents made the mistake of taking me to a fireworks display when I was about two and I bawled my head off the whole time. As I got older, my love of loud noises didn’t grow, but my fascination with the colorful light display in the sky was enough to make me forget about the noise that accompanied them.

Most years, we attended the local fireworks event that suburban towns have, usually in a park or in the athletic field of the high school. It was a semi-professional affair. There was a lot of waiting around, and then finally, the crowd’s necks turned towards the sky. There were plenty of duds which earned groans from the crowd. My favorite part was the ending, where it seemed the fireworks crew threw up whatever was remaining, creating an interesting and unpredictable mix of colors and patterns.

When I was very young, Dad would put me on top of his shoulders so I could be that much closer to the sky. Then I had my fear of heights and loud noises to contend with!