People are usually surprised when I say that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I don’t strike them as a flag-waver, I suppose, and they wonder why my favorite isn’t Christmas, or maybe Thanksgiving.

The Chinese invented fireworks. When I came back from living in China, I cried while I was standing in line to vote – thinking of my friends in Beijing.

In Dubai, where you can get thrown in jail for criticizing the monarch, they have a full-blown fireworks show every night of the month-long Shopping Festival.

Sometimes you have to leave home in order to celebrate it.

[More fireworks in the July 3 entry "Same Time Last Year" on my photos-only blog]