Please Quiet Down with the Fireworks.

I'm not really into fireworks. I mean, the kind cities shoot into the sky are dazzling, but I don't like the ones people use at home. As a kid, my nephew accidentally burned my side with a sparkler. Yes, a sparkler, you know, the firework that parents let their kids play with because they think they're "safe." Umm... sorry guys, it's still on fire, not safe. (sparklers are totally pretty and sweet looking but I still have a scar so I'll never be convinced they aren't dangerous)

The thing I hate most about these fireworks is that people stock up on them and keep them at home to shoot off whenever they feel like it, just for fun. I know it's already close to the 4th but since it's not actually July yet, please don't shoot off your fireworks. You see, my dear sweet boyfriend has PTSD and we were outside today since the weather was bearable, working on building our kitchen table (is it still a dining room table if you don't have a dining room?) and one of our neighbors shot off two fireworks.

Normally on the 3rd and 4th of July, Jake stays inside, playing video games with a headset on and the volume cranked way up. You know, because fireworks sound like bombs going off which takes him back to Iraq, raises his anxiety levels by a kazillion percent and just make for an all around awful day. So we prepare for it. But when people just want to shoot them off willy nilly, well, not cool neighbors, not cool. If it were possible to tell where it came from exactly I would've called the cops on them because I was so angry.

I get that it's the 4th of July, that it's a holiday weekend, that people want to have their bbq, drink their beer, and shoot their fireworks and have fun. Just wait until the appropriate date please. Also, it's been in the 90s for the past two weeks, can anyone say wildfire?

On a related note; I know it's irrational to get mad at these people for shooting off their fireworks. They're not doing anything wrong (except I think there are laws pertaining to when you can and cannot shoot fireworks), they don't know that Jake has PTSD, some of them probably don't even know what PTSD is. I still find it really frustrating though. I can't make Jake's PTSD go away, and I can't change the world around him so his life could be easier either which sometimes I find really frustrating/overwhelming/hopeless. I'm just thankful that fireworks usually only happen twice a year (the 4th and New Years Eve) and that most days, he only has to deal with the things inside our house and not the outside world too. Life gets so much more complicated when you have to deal with everyone out there, people you don't even know can affect your life. I kind of feel like everyone is a variable in some giant continuously changing math equation that we are all affected by.

It's late, I've had too many peanut butter chocolate bars and now I'm rambling. Time to publish and go to bed. :)