This will be the first time in 30 yrs that I will miss a fourth of July celebration with my family.  The fourth of July has been a HUGE celebration with my family as far back as I can remember.  On my mom’s side, the VanSpeybroecks, (GO BELGIUMS!!) there was a total of 5 children, so I have a ton of cousins around my age which is, and always was a blast growing up.  The Fourth of July always starts with the Annual Fourth of July Fire Cracker Run, it is a 5k and a 10k down town East Moline and it is a huge local race.  A lot of the local studs always show up and it is definitely a good time!!  My Mobile DJ Service provides sound at the two mile mark, so I usually have one of my guys running the show, playing tunes and cheering people on, and I always tell him at 10 mins into the race (if I run the 5k) start playing Motley Crue, “Kick Start My Heart”.  That song gets me fired up while running.  I have a number of family members who run so it is awesome to cheer them on as well.  I then make a mad dash to where we keep our Parade float for my Mobile DJ Service.  I shower and people who are walking with us in the parade start to show.  We head down to the Parade staging area and get ready.  The rest of the family starts to make there way to the Parade.  The VanSpeybroecks have a special spot along the route to which we all would gather, watch the parade and just have a good time.  For the past 11 years, I have been in the Parade with my Mobile DJ Service, and I really think the crowd looked forward to us coming through because we would have four of our speakers up on the roofs of the SUVs and float just rocking good old fun sing-alongs.  I usually get on the mic and get the crowd really into it.  It is a blast!!  When we would eventually make our way to the VanSpeybroeck spot, we would stop and play, “We are family” by Sister Sledge, of course this is our family song as I am sure it your families and just about every families song out there when it comes to a celebration.  We would all dance and just have a great time.  Most of my cousins are getting married this year and it is a shame I won’t be there to celebrate in such a joyous occasion, but I think I brought that up because we are growing up and I now see my nephews and nieces experiencing this annual event of collecting all the candy they can get their hands on during the parade and just experiencing the value, the joy, the fun, and the love that family’s have for each other.  I know they will keep this tradition going as they grow up as well. 

After the parade, (when I was a kid) we all use to meet up at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house during the day for food, fun, and usually one of us kids getting in trouble for jumping in the pond.  My Grandma and Grandpas back yard led to Butterworth park, so as kids we LOVED going over there, because we could always to play on the swings and go down the hill to the Pond to skip stones or catch frogs and like mentioned, dare one of the us kids to jump in for no reason except to laugh.  There are so many good memories at my Grandparents house.  The night would be capped off with Fireworks put on by the City of East Moline.  We all would gather in the park and watch, with each one that went off, I can still hear my mom saying, “This one is for Grandpa!” or “This one is for Dad!”  It was always special.

A couple years later, the City of East Moline stopped shooting off Fireworks, but the Quad City Downs picked up the tab and shot them from their horse racing track, which was great, because we lived right by the downs, so as you exited my house onto the back deck, you could see all the fire works being shot from the Downs.  So we continued having the parties at our house.  We had an above ground pool which was fun and plenty of land to play as kids. 

For the past 5 or 6 years, we have been doing all the above, but the party after the parade has moved to Willow Springs.  Willow is a private swim club in East Moline that my uncle belongs too, so he rents the Pavilion, and we all go swim, listen to some tunes provided by my dj service, and just have a good time.  Later on most of us head down to the River to watch the different Cities shoot off the fire works.  It is still magical during the day, but the nighttime is now kind of hit and miss since all my cousins are either engaged or have a girlfriend and end up leaving to go do something else.  I must say I was guilty of that as well, in fact, last year was the first year I was single for the fourth…it was kind of lonely and I got to hang out a little longer with the parents.  This year I will be here in Iraq, single, but that doesn’t really matter, I think what matters to me is the fact I am not going to have that feeling of comfort from my family, nor will I hear the great stories and memories, I will be sitting in an office putting up with MAJs, Contractors, and other customers who all think they need a 2009 SUV so they can drive to the DFAC.  I plan on staying here until Jan.  If I decide to stay beyond that is still up in the air.  If I do, I am leaving for home for two weeks shortly after Jan.  I will get three two week R&Rs and I plan on using them, as I will not miss another 4^th of July, I can guarantee that.   So if you are still reading this, I ask you to have a great Fourth of July and if you get a chance to see some good fireworks, if you would, let one of those beautiful, grand explosions in the sky be for me…