A few years ago we went to see the Fourth of July fireworks at Lake Champlain – held every year on the third of July.

Some people arrive early in the evening and claim space on the grass with their blankets and picnic baskets, but we chose to walk around and get ice cream and enjoy the atmosphere.  We found a row of people standing at a railing just before the fireworks began, and joined them.

Immediately a delegate from the lawn squatters behind us approached and suggested – all but insisted – we might want to sit when the fireworks started.  Gesturing at the people around us we suggested there’d be little chance of that.  Besides, it’s not like we’d be blocking the view of the sky.

We heard her report back, quietly, “They’re not gonna move.”  A woman immediately shouted up to us – me, my brother, his daughter, and our two nieces, all clumped together – “Maybe some day you’ll have kids and then you’ll understand.”

Without missing a beat, my niece Jessica whipped around and shouted back, “What are we, the next door neighbors?”

With that, I introduce a mini-series of quotes from my nieces, and from Jessica in particular.