Fourth of July

 Do you have a memorable July 4th, one that stands out as different from all the other times you celebrated the holiday?

For me, it’s July 4, 1992.

In 1992 Drew and I and our daughter Jen (a toddler at the time) were living in a two-bedroom apartment in Queens, NY.  Our apartment was on the 5th floor, overlooking the Van Wyck Expressway.  Our windows faced west, so we could see  Maple Grove Cemetery across the highway, and beyond that we saw several Queens neighborhoods and just a tiny piece of the Manhattan skyline. From our balcony, if we looked south, we could see the control tower at JFK. We were about four miles from the airport.

At the time, Drew worked in midtown Manhattan, and I worked in Jersey City, NJ.  My commute?  The NYC Subway from Queens to the World Trade Center, then the PATH train from NYC one stop to Exchange Place in Jersey City.  Our offices were on the 12th and 13th floor of an office building on the Hudson River, directly across from the World Trade Center. We had an excellent view of the river. 

Well, in 1992 Macy’s announced that their annual fireworks extravaganza would be presented on the Hudson River. (Sometimes they do the show on the East River.) And then there was an announcement about something special in New York Harbor and the Hudson River: Operation Sail.  In honor of the 4th, and also the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ first voyage to the Americas, tall ships would grace the river that day.

My company decided to open up our offices for a social event.  It would be a party for employees and their families, with indoor viewing of the events on the river, food, etc.; employees could choose to see either OpSail or the fireworks. 

I chose…neither.

You see, I was pregnant.  Very pregnant.  As in, my due date was July 4.  We laughingly called the baby “Yankee Doodle”. I could have gone to one of the events even though I was already on maternity leave,  but I didn’t think it was a good idea to have two rivers between me and my obstetrician on a major holiday.

So we stayed home.

What you have to understand, fireworks are illegal in New York unless you’re a professional, but that doesn’t stop people from buying fireworks in another state and bringing then into New York.  In fact, back in the 90’s, Joh Gotti (the Teflon Don) used to do a huge fireworks display for his neighbors — he lived in Howard Beach, a neighborhood immediately adjacent to JFK.  

We figured we’d go out to our balcony and try to see Gotti’s fireworks, as well as any other fireworks that might be around.    And yes, there were fireworks displays on almost every street we could see.  It was a beautiful display.

Becca was born 4 days later.

I’ve never had another opportunity to see the Macy’s fireworks live.  But interestingly, Becca and her husband can see the fireworks from the roof of their apartment building, they live two blocks from the East River.