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<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Fireworks at Tahoe City<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Last week I received two phone calls that saddened me.\u00a0 Not in any big way – no deaths or illnesses, just to put it in perspective, but sad nonetheless.\u00a0 The first was from a friend visiting grandchildren.\u00a0 He lamented that the kids were bored and depressed.\u00a0 Due to the COVID risk in their area they must stay at home, are not allowed to see their friends and if they do venture out with their parents they must wear a mask.\u00a0 He asked me: “What kind of a childhood is this?”<\/strong>.\u00a0 The next day I spoke with a friend who has a home in Lake Tahoe and she told me that the annual 4th of July fireworks display had been cancelled because they did not want large crowds gathering in town.\u00a0 These two calls got me thinking about what it must be like to be a young child during this time, and what the long term repercussions might be.\u00a0 As I think back to my childhood, the 4th of July fireworks at Tahoe<\/strong> were so special that the memory of them still brings a smile to my face.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Meeks Bay in the 1950’s<\/b><\/p><\/div>\n We spent many weekends during the summer at our place at Tahoe.\u00a0 We would often visit Meeks Bay Resort,<\/strong> a throwback destination that consisted of a wonderful, white sandy beach, an old hotel, an arcade room, snack bar and kayak rentals.\u00a0 The highlight for me was when my dad gave me a nickel to buy popcorn out of the machine on the pier.\u00a0 The bag invariably was filled to the brim and I spilled a good portion of it wending my way back to our spot on the beach.\u00a0 Still…I can remember the smell and the sand in my feet to this day.\u00a0 As I grew older I attended dances at the outdoor pavilion and spent hours on the beach, smothered in baby oil<\/strong> to get a\u00a0 perfect tan.\u00a0 \u00a0More often that not I was burned to a crisp, a situation that I would recall some 50 years later when I was diagnosed with melanoma.\u00a0 But when you’re young ignorance is bliss.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Me…enjoying Rocky Beach<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Most of the time our family went to a local beach on the west shore that was not sandy at all.\u00a0 In fact, we called it Rocky Beach<\/strong> for obvious reasons.\u00a0 The good part was that it was never crowded.\u00a0 But it was never crowded for a reason:\u00a0 you had to sit on lumpy rocks and there was no bathroom.\u00a0 \u00a0I hate to think of all the pee that went into that pristine lake.\u00a0 And, oh yeah, the water was freezing cold, as it tends to be at Tahoe in early July.\u00a0 It was so cold that if our parents and friends overindulged the night before it required a “quick dip”<\/strong> in the water at Rocky Beach to bring them back to their senses.\u00a0 The photo of me at Rocky Beach shows just how much “fun” it was to wade into the freezing water.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Pop – the “muscle man”<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n But the highlight of every summer was the 4th of July fireworks at Commons Beach in Tahoe City.<\/strong>\u00a0 The fireworks show has been put on by the fire department every year since the 1930’s.\u00a0 There is nothing quite like seeing the bursting display over the lake, as it produced a mirror image on the water’s reflection.\u00a0 Truly, it was breathtaking.\u00a0 And the advantage of being a kid is that we weren’t the least bit bothered by the loud bangs and soaring rockets that went on for an hour.\u00a0 The first fireworks show I remember was in the mid-50’s and we continued that great tradition until 1972 when the cabin was sold.\u00a0 This photo of our dad, joking around about his “magnificent” physique,<\/strong> was taken in 1971 over 4th of July weekend.\u00a0 \u00a0To this day, Tahoe fireworks are among my best memories.<\/p>\n Even Dash knows to mask up!<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Which gets me back to the kids of today.\u00a0 Sure, COVID will end<\/strong> at some point.\u00a0 We will get a vaccine and hopefully we can move on.\u00a0 But who knows when?\u00a0 In the mean time, our young kids are missing school, missing friends and missing out on a summer of making memories that will last a lifetime. This year they missed the 4th of July fireworks all over the country.\u00a0 \u00a0And the thought of that makes me very sad.\u00a0 \u00a0Hopefully we can lick this thing quickly so the kids can have some fun and enjoy their carefree days of childhood<\/strong>.\u00a0 After all, we know that soon enough life has a way of getting harder and they will need some wonderful memories to bolster their resilience.\u00a0 \u00a0 Be safe and, like Dash the Wonder Dog, wear a mask!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Last week I received two phone calls that saddened me.\u00a0 Not in any big way – no deaths or illnesses, just to put it in perspective, but sad nonetheless.\u00a0 The first was from a friend visiting … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Meeks-Bay-300x190.jpg\")
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