I grew up celebrating Independence Day with bonfires on the beach, double decker pontoons in the lake, and party barges full of fireworks. All us locals would work the barges for an hour or so and then retire to the beach or the pontoons. I wasn’t one of the pyros who spent all night giggling over each rocket, so I joined the local and vacationing girls in enjoying the festivities. It was a big old party starting the weekend before and going until the weekend after. Fireworks and music and beer every night for an entire week. It was an amazing way to grow up, surrounded by friends and family. People I’d known all my life, and people just here for the summer or the weekend. All of us celebrating the birth of our country by blowing a piece of it up.