With no festivities planned in the Festival City on the Fourth, I anticipated a long day of quiet working on projects and a bit more spring cleaning.
Monday held work all day followed by Sewing for the Master at College Avenue Church of Christ.
“Are you doing anything on the Fourth?” I was asked.
“Just planning on staying home and catching up on projects,” I bleakly replied.
“Come join me in the sewing room that afternoon,” she said.
I demurred. I had so much to do. One day at home would make a major dent on my list of things to do, but the seed had been planted and it grew. I called her Wednesday. “I’ll be there,” I promised.
At least I would have something to do besides sit by myself on the Fourth with no festivities planned in the City of Festivals and Entertainment.
I had to check on some folks who had recently moved and mentioned the free summer movies at Star Theater at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “Maybe your kids and you would like to go?”
“Sure.”
“And did you know that there will be a family hosting a community Fourth of July party in Parkers Chapel, with a barbecue picnic and fireworks?”
They added that to their schedule, and so did I.
And that’s how my leisurely day at home disappeared under a deluge of activities.
But the sporadic spring cleaning still needed to be done, so I stayed up late to resolve that feeling of “it’s too crowded to move around here.”
I opened the door to the toy cupboard and pulled everything out on the floor. The time had come to cull deeply. Visiting grandkids get lost in the jumble of toys when they come.
I sorted. I stacked. I matched. I put the keepers back and photographed the rest for the Facebook page of the online Union County garage sale.
My cupboards have a lot more space. My dining room floor, table and kitchen counters overflowed.
Then just before sleep descended I pulled out boxes and piles of cross stitch patterns, finally admitting, “No one can stitch 7,000 different patterns” (well, maybe not that many).
I began to sort. I worked late into the night but sleep finally called even though stacks and stacks of leaflets and magazines still spread across the coffee table.
Before the birds began to twitter, I left my slumber and returned to my plunder. I sorted. I labeled. I cleaned and cooked.
About 8:30 I remembered I had to take a dessert to the neighborhood party. I began dumping applesauce, eggs, flour and sugar into a bowl to make an applesauce cake.
While the cake baked, I pulled books off the shelves in the guest room and dolls out of their cribs. It was past time to trim the excess.
The heap of dolls and books grew as I hastily thrust books I wanted to keep back on the shelf, tossed donations into a pile and trash into a sack.
The smell of cake wafting through the door reminded me I needed to return to the kitchen. I left the mess and grabbed the cake, looked at the clock and grabbed my keys. Time to go watch a free movie.
I went, could not concentrate with duty calling at home, so while the friends and their children finished watching the film, I slipped out and dashed home where I threw unwanted dolls and books into the trunk of my car, whipped up a frosting for the cake and grabbed the camera with pictures of items for sale. All done in time to meet them as they left the theater.
The friends went back to their residence, I posted pictures to Facebook, dashed into the grocery store for salad, came out with more than I needed, and went to sew, an hour later than I had originally planned.
I made one little dress for a little girl in need. And then, my early morning rush hit me with a wave of exhaustion. I crashed on the couch just long enough to refresh my brain before the barbecue picnic.
I delivered my cake, ate, watched the antics of the water balloon toss and the pie eating contest. I greeted old friends and met new folks in the crowd of a couple hundred at the festivities for the Fourth that were not happening in the Festival City.
Holiday ceremonies preceded the flash of fireworks that shook out the night sky before we tucked ourselves in at the close of the day. Not too bad of a Fourth in the Festival City without any festivities.