My daughter's Scary 4th

Like most people, when the fourth arrives we all typically find ourselves at a camp fire or with family and friend's enjoying some holiday firework show. Fireworks in my life, have always been a scary thing due to my mother's amazing way to bring the fear of God upon us if we ever played with fireworks; however, with that fear came lack of knowledge about fireworks. I knew they could be very bad, if not properly supervised or done by trained individuals. I knew they could and are very dangerous to kids but I never really grasped the true nature of a firework, till I heard my little 4 year old daughter share the story that will forever change the life of a little boy, his family and friends and let's face it... my daughter's life!

It all started on Saturday, July 3rd. Mylah and me had found ourselves around amazing people watching a UFC fight on paper view. Well, I found myself watching a UFC fight through the fingers on my hand and Mylah found herself playing with a Leapfrog and another little girl, totally oblivious to the UFC fights all together. After the fights, the party moved to the front where we all did a few "pre-fourth of the July" practice run with some fireworks. Being a little scared myself, I stayed pretty far away from the center of the fun, which turned out to be good because we had a firework explode not even 5 feet off the ground and into the watching crow. A little scary, an enough scare to put Mylah at bay about Fireworks. Turns out after some nice 20/20 hindsight, I'm glad that "dud" happened to scare Mylah enough to really grasp the dangers of fireworks. That moment I think changed how the rest of my daughter's story will end.

On the fourth of July, Mylah and me were on the beach of a friend's mother's house, watching an amazing show of fireworks. They were going off everywhere. It didn't really matter where we looked, you saw amazing bright colors and loud booms. It was spectacular and no words of mine would ever do the justice in just how amazing the show was. All I can say was it was beautiful and one amazing way to celebrate the fourth!

Now the 5th, became the day of reality check! The day which I think will never be forgotten in my mind. The day in which an 11 year old, found his hand totally reconstructed by someone's lack of responsibility when it comes to cleaning up your dud fireworks. My daughter and three other kids, ranging from the nice age of 4 up till 11, went out on the beach to do some clam and shell digging. However during their nice search, Mylah came across some unused fireworks and lighters. The kids being kids, started to play but Mylah still being spooked from the night before wanted nothing to do with the fireworks and wanted to come back to shore. The other little youngster there offered to walk Mylah back to shore. Maybe 10 minutes after getting to the shore, there was a loud and horrible boom. It was louder than any fireworks I had heard the night before and the sound that followed was not of a child enjoying the firework show.

The Cry was heard from miles. It was a terrified little boy, who couldn't see anything due to the impact of the "donkey ball" going off about a foot from his face. It was a cry of a young boy, screaming for his dad. It was fear and the cry that every parent hopes they never hear their child scream. The cry after the young boy's cry for his dad, was one from his father desperately screaming for help and 911. The screams that came after that scream were from all the people in shock, worry, love, and mostly screams of total guilt. There wasn't a single parent at this camp ground that didn't ask the question, "What could I have done differently?" It was the most surreal thing but also the most amazing because with this 20/20 hindsight that we all have after the 5 hour surgery to reconstruct his hand back and the countless prayers, tears and all the questions. We all have the reality that this could of been worse.

The more I come to understand what a "donkey ball" really is, I have to thank the Good Lord we still have that little boy? I have to wonder what really enticed Mylah and the other youngster to come back to the shore? From a little ball maybe 1.5 inches in diameter, a party of about 35 people's fourth of July became something out of a Stephen King Novel. This fourth was one that changed the lives of many. I just hope that my daughter who sings more than most, loves unconditionally and smiles like no other... will one day tell me her side because tonight all that she could say outside of the facts was, "Mommy, I don't want to talk about it because I could of been hurt!"

For all my church family and anyone that has a praying bone in their body, these people need prayer. I'm not sharing the names because honestly, God knows the names because like it reads in the bible, I know every hair on your body because I made you (Proverbs 31). So just pray and God will get the memo. Thanks.

My daughter