Life's A Beach, And I'm On One

Much like Birthdays, I rarely spend fourth of July with my husband. Facebook allowed me to hop through my timeline today to find out that we have missed five of the seven Independence day celebrations, and this actually surprised me. I guess I never noticed, because it's not my birthday or my most favorite holiday, and I still get to celebrate. I do however, feel bad that he's missed so many Fourth festivities when he's the one that's still fighting for our freedom. I think we are going to have to make next years celebration one for the books to make up for it. For now, at least I can say that this year's was a success.

Thursday, we kicked off the festivities with my first official FRCSC event as the Secretary! Obviously I didn't set up the tables as you can see the boxes underneath, but no one at Freedom Fest cared, and they bought all of our memorabilia.

Some of the other wives came, so I got to enjoy the festival with them, and then we watched the biggest fireworks show I've ever seen. Fort Rucker does a great job on Freedom Fest as a whole, but apparently they had left over fireworks from last year. Double fireworks? Heck yes. Triple, if you count going to Joel's after for sparklers and roman candles.

Does anyone else think that fireworks are magic?

I don't think it really hit me that Will is gone until the morning of the fourth, though. I was alone, I had no plans, and I was wishing I had gone home for the holiday. I kept telling myself {out loud, mind you} that I should just text everyone to see what they were doing, but I thought that some would be doing family things, some were out of town, and I was just being a baby. I guess I wasn't the only one feeling alone, though, and the next thing I knew, we were having girls night with wine and some of the best pizza I had ever had. I could have ended the fun right then and there, but the weekend only got better.

The boys are away, so the girls {and Joel} will play! I was brave saying yes to go to the beach not knowing if I have solved my face issue {clue: I think I have}, but I am SO glad that I joined the fun. We relaxed, chatted away, met some fun bartenders, and even found my favorite bathing suits on sale at Ron Jon's. Funny story, I had told everyone how much of a lightweight I was, and then after about four sips of my margarita, I was slurring my words. Sure, our new friend Dennis made it extra strong, but c'mon...four sips? Needless to say, I was happy to only have one seeing as I was driving home six hours later.

Oh, but the food...We had planned on looking for something a little more authentic, but when you are starving with a slight buzz, Pompano Joe's will do. Actually, my Grouper Reuben was one of the best things I've ever eaten, and that wasn't just the buzz talking.

The other two hadn't been to Dick's Last Resort, so we popped in there and it didn't disappoint. For those of you that haven't heard of it, it's one of those places where they...well, act like dick's. I'll just let you read the hats. Our bartender started off mean, but it didn't take long for us to crack him. By the time we left, he was begging us to stay. We win.

To say that this was much needed fun, would be an understatement. No drama, Bahama Mama, good for the soul kind of day, and seems like a turn in the right direction for me. Now we just can't wait to take the gang back when they get home. If we had that much fun in one day, it's going to be epic next time. Countdown: 12 days!