Another 4th with some empty places

Yesterday we celebrated Fourth of July the way we always do, family, feast, fireworks, but we had some empty places this year that made the day bittersweet. Of course, any time the family is together, I miss Jason, but yesterday I couldn't help missing Cody and Ashley too. Cody is serving in Afghanistan right now, and his wife Ashley is living in San Diego. I hope they both had a good day.
We used to have a picnic down at the ponds every year, but many years ago the venue changed to the house. It was at my in-laws until we moved here, but for the past twenty years, it has been at our house. The crowd has changed, and since we no longer have a pool, the activity has changed too.
Aunt Polly, Gigi, and Granny and Poppy come to visit and have lunch. The kids still have a few fireworks, but that has changed too. Now Carson and Kirby try to figure out how they can make louder, bigger explosions by taping or binding things together while Kirby's wife Beth and Allison watch. I had to think of Cody yesterday. He was the real king of blowing things up; ironic since he is now a part of Navy EODs. His job is to find enemy weapons and blow the up. I pray for his safety and am so anxious to see him home. I wondered about Ashley yesterday; Cindy said she was going to be with friends, so that's good.
Jason wasn't ever allowed to have fireworks. My dad and Tony's dad would give him money not to buy fireworks. When Cody came along, he had to have fireworks, so Jason used to be amazed by watching Carson, Cody and Kirby blowing stuff up. He joined in as an adult, but I wonder if he thought we had lost our minds.
I wasn't expecting any yesterday, but Carson stopped at a fireworks stand and brought some stuff to play with yesterday. I didn't hear it, but he said that Gigi told him it was time to GROWUP! She yelled at him probably for the first time in his life.
Yesterday was a good day--it was a rare cool day in July in Oklahoma. A storm came in about 6:00 and poured another couple of inches of rain on us. At least we didn't have to worry about grass fires this year as we usually do.
I cooked fried chicken tenders and baked hot rolls which also made me think of Cody. When he was just a little guy, he could eat his weight in chicken tenders and hot rolls. I wish there was a way to get some to him.
Maybe when he gets home, we will have mock holidays to celebrate with him and Ashley. We could do Easter ham, Mother's Day burgers, Independence Day chicken. As difficult as it is to get us all together now, we may have to do this all in one day.