A Welcome Sign of Home

When I was 7 years old, my family moved to The Canary Islands for almost a year while my Dad built a dome over there. We were on the beautiful Island of Tenerife with crystal clear water, white sand, topless people...well that's another story.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful place, but no one spoke English and no one was friendly. We tried to learn the language which was a mix of Spanish and Africans. But everyone laughed at us. Even though it was an exciting time, it was also a lonely time. I can't imagine how my mother made it! At least I had 3 sisters to keep me occupied.

It was July 4th over there an we were sad because no one else was celebrating it over there. So we dressed up in red white and blue, said our pledges of allegiance and took a picnic on the road. We drove until we came to a cliff that overlooked the ocean. We unpacked our picnic and ate it as we watched the sun go down. Right when we were getting ready to leave, the sky broke out in THE BEST FIREWORKS I'VE EVER SEEN! It was amazing! We had no clue why they were there because no one had even mentioned America's Independence day, but they were and it just brought such a sense of home to a poor, lonely little family in an unfriendly place.