When I look back at the past Fourth of July’s, they all seem to blend together. My family typically does the same thing each year. A party at a relative’s house or our house then fireworks from the local fire department; it has always been the same for as long as I can remember. But last year was the year it all changed, the year that the fourth of July stands out as one of the best days of my life. Last year I spent my summer in the Outer Bank, Rodanthe area to be exact, with my boyfriend. It was my first time far away from friends and family. There was no one down on the island that I knew aside from my boyfriend and his friends, needless to say I started to get depressed and missed everyone back home terribly.
The time fourth of July rolled around, we were both well into our jobs and working that day, he didn’t get off work until 10 pm which was really too late to do anything. He came home from work and told me he had a surprise for me, and wouldn’t tell me what it was no matter how much I asked why we needed to bring hot dogs, marshmallows, and a block of wood. It may seem obvious now, but then I didn’t put two and two together for some reason. He lead me out to the beach near the place we were living and built me a camp fire. We spent the rest of the night, about 2 hours or so under the stars roasting marshmallows together. We listened to the ipod while we laid on a beach blanket together. It was beginning to be a night I only dreamt of having.
My boyfriend tried to skim board in the dark with only the moonlight lighting his path, it wasn’t as successful as he thought it would be, but thankfully he did not get hurt. We tried to be silly and take pictures of us kissing which did not turn out the way we wanted it to, but it was still a lot of fun to try. Some people down the beach were setting off fireworks so we cuddled and watched the fireworks while the waves crashed against the shore. We talked about a variety of things and just held on to each other. We even walked along the beach hand in hand gazing at the stars and the moon’s reflection off the water. It was a very romantic night, probably one of the most romantic nights I have ever had.
That night reminded me why I loved him so much, and that he loved me. It took my mind off of missing everyone back home, and made it feel as if I was the most important person in my boyfriend’s life. Fourth of July normally just comes and goes for me, almost something of a blur. I always looked back on the day and wondered what did I do differently from the year before, and I could never come up with something. Now when I look back I can remember the most romantic night to this point. I am sure we will have more romantic nights, but having fireworks go off in the distance every time we kissed marked July 4th 2011 as a very special day and very memorable.
