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I told Jackson it was was the Fourth of July today, and then he asked what we were going to do. Uhhhh… nothing.

Earlier, when I was pregnant, I was so focused on the delivery and getting through it safely, that it’s really just starting to hit me now how sad this summer is going to be without being able to do any of the fun things we are used to. Of course, I’m happy that we are all healthy, but it still sucks being stuck at home and not seeing friends and family.

For July 4th, there’s normally a parade — with bagpipes, marching bands and donuts, Jackson’s favorites — and then we watch fireworks in Evanston at my in-laws’ high-rise, where you can see firework displays from all the suburbs all along the horizon.

This year all the parades and fireworks have been canceled.

I saw on Facebook that the Glen Ellyn fire department was going to drive through the town in the afternoon, so we were trying to carefully listen for sirens from our backyard.

Sure enough, at one point we did hear sirens going off, so we all sprinted to the front yard as fast as we could. I could see a fire truck coming down May Avenue towards our house. But as it hit the intersection, it turned down another street before reaching our house.

We all started running again down the sidewalk, chasing after the truck. A bunch of kids, on the other side of the street, were also running to their front yard trying to get a look.

Once Jackson got to the corner, we could only see the very back of the truck going up and over the hill. You could see the flashing lights for about two or three seconds.

Later, Justin was out in the front yard with Jackson when apparently they saw one firework go off. Jackson ran to get me to show me the spot where he saw it.

To me, it was the saddest thing: one firework and barely a glimpse at a firetruck. But Jackson has been talking non-stop about those two things! He was SO excited!

And he keeps wanting to just sit in the front yard to wait for more firetrucks, lol.