Day 10: A Photo Taken Over 10 Years Ago

This picture was taken on July 4, 1997. I can tell because the boys were both still too little to walk. Margie and Kalani are on the left and I'm on the right with Kyle. This picture doesn't bring back pleasant memories, and I can remember that day vividly.

Being the Fourth, we decided to take an outing to an aircraft carrier in Charleston, SC where we were living at the time. Bad idea. The ex had the video camera, and those girls in that picture had their respective children. In those baby slings. For HOURS! The only baby duty changes that took place was when we switched kids or baby backpacks. It was 95 degrees outside, and at least 110 on that ship. It was a big oven, and the fact that it was "shade" didn't seem to matter to the boat. It was downright HOT and Charleston humid.

We carried those boys up and down those ladders they have on ships, straight up and straight down. There were drinking fountains on board, and that was the only drink we managed to get a break for. Nasty rusty boat water from a water fountain. I really could go on forever because it was THAT bad, but I'll save cyberspace and just say that the day was bad enough that I got some kind of heat-related headache that lasted days, and Margie wasn't any better off. The fireworks were miserable combined with the blinding headache, and I still had a young child to take care of. I've never seen the Fourth the same since.