If you can't find a partner, use a wooden chair

The plan for Independence Day was breakfast, parade, dancing, swimming, eating and watching fireworks. Here's how it went down. Adam and Steph invited me to the Bells' combined ward breakfast at a lovely park in Walnut Creek. We drove separate cars in case plans went different ways. The Bells never showed but I was fine getting the nice pancake breakfast. They took off. This was a full-on salute to America with color guard, patriotic songs, contest of history for which I won a gift certificate for knowing who sewed the first flag and how many verses our National Anthem has. Then veterans were honored individually and we did a special clap for all of them after. I then learned the Crawfords were there just as I was ready to split for the Concord parade so I visited with all of them a bit. When we first moved to Concord the parade was a huge disappointment and lasted about five minutes. Not so now. It's fantastic with horses and music. I caught the last hour of it and walked around the square looking at all the booths set up. Deborah and the Mixed Nuts began the first of three bands at noon and what a band. She has a voice that is amazing and I started dancing right away and all around the park. This was a time to totally enjoy the moment and experience the joy of the day. She is also an actress. I sat out DVC Jazz Combo and danced again to swing numbers by a band with some 60 years of experience until 3:30. By then I was very ready for my 30 minutes of swimming until 4:30. I was invited to share vege burgers, beans, watermelon and chips followed by Steph's apricot cobbler with the Bells in their home. After dancing to videos we wound up at my house to put the dogs in the kennel, bring in the flag, and consolidate to the van and head to Martinez marina where fireworks from several cities could be seen and enjoyed with a gold full moon rising behind us. What a fabulous Independence Day. I'm feeling so blessed and grateful and glad to celebrate with family and friends this year. Happy Birthday America!