Painting the sky

For the Fourth of July each year, a large group of us gather at Dave's, socialize, eat burgers and hot dogs and dishes that people bring, and then we launch fireworks.  Only about a dozen of us actually work on the fireworks show; the rest of the crowd watch and often cheer.  I've written many times before about what it's like to stand under the fireworks and stare upward as they paint the sky, so I won't repeat most of those ramblings here.  What struck me so powerfully again tonight was how much I love this show and how quickly it ends.  I know from observers that the show ran between 20 and 25 minutes, but to those of us doing the lighting, it felt more like five.  Being under the fireworks, standing among the explosions, is so intense, so completely consuming, that time just races away.

I love it.

I'm glad the audience likes the show, but I'd want to do it even if the only people there were the members of the launch team.

Nothing else is quite like it.