IMR: 1999: July: 04 —  Sunday, 10:19 p.m. Our Apartment, Makiki, Hawai`i

We visited mom today, and took her out for a late birthday lunch. Todd even allowed himself to be a little late for his weekly Magic card game to stay and eat with us. Will wonders never cease? After the fiasco last year, there was no way Jen was going to let me talk her into attempting Ala Moana for the Fourth of July fireworks show tonight. So we just watched from the roof of our building, a mile away in Makiki, and wouldn't you know it, it was still a pretty good show. Sure, we didn't get the chest-thumping bass of the mid-air explosions, but with a potentially skittish 17-month-old, perhaps it was for the best. And with the soundtrack to the show broadcast live on the radio, we almost got the full effect just by listening to a Sony Walkman giving its all through a pair of broken headphones. And after it was over? No crowds, no traffic, no headaches. We just came back downstairs and put Katie right to bed. A far more satisfying experience than last night, when we tried to catch the fireworks at Aloha Tower Marketplace. We were late getting there and I got the bright idea to watch from my office. We waited patiently at the window only to discover, when the explosions started, that between us and the pretty pyrotechnics was a little something known as the Amfac Building. We ended up watching the whole thing reflected in the windows of the next building over. That's okay — the extravagance of the Ala Moana show still took the cake (although word is it might be the last). The happy faces were back, but they did them one better this time by spelling out "USA" in the sky. Of course, since this is Hawai`i and today is actually a day of mourning for some, the engineers were wise to close with a Hawaiian-esque anthem rather than "Proud to be an American." The finale was bright enough to make us cast shadows, even halfway up into the mountains. The fireworks in the streets around us are still going strong, however, much to Jen's chagrin. It'll probably be a fitful night in the family bed.

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