BASEBALL, BEER, FIREWORKS, BOOMERPDX STYLE

Getting a lift on the 4th. image via DG Studios

In a search for holiday ideas, there’s BoomerPdx Style.

Who drank a beer yesterday? Anyone?

Super Patriot in their flag focused ensemble leads a toast.

Slinky character in a DD214 t-shirt cheers him on.

Everyone else joins in. If that’s your Fourth of July, you did it right.

If it didn’t go that way, take heart. Being there for others can create a more meaningful event.

Take BoomerPdx Style, for example:

The point of the 4th is a celebration of American independence. It’s the goal every year. So is drinking a beer, but the question of when and where leave doubts.

How early is too early to crack the first cold one? Since it’s not tailgating at an early Ducks football game, you don’t have that excuse to drink at nine in the morning.

That’s not BoomerPdx style.

How about a beer after a gym workout? Do that and lose all the gains you just worked for.

Is anytime after noon a good choice to get started? Only if you want to land on the couch passed out by five, or at least before dark.

Start too early and you miss the fireworks.

Understand that the Fourth of July is more than drinking beer, but you still need to do it with style.

Fortunately we had a rescue around here when a text came in inviting us to ‘a good old fashioned 4th of July picnic’ in the park, Woodstock Park.

If you’ve never been there, it’s between Steele and Woodstock off SE 52nd. That was the target, and the answer to the beer question.

So away we went to meet the other people. Since we got there early, we cruised the neighborhood and noted the number of pastel couches left on the sidewalks. Four of them.

Once we all met up, the two baby boomer couples unloaded the picnic gear. Mine was easy, a sixer of pounders in the can.

The others knew how to picnic a little better. We unloaded, set up, opened a couple of beers, and played bocci ball after scouting dog crap.

My team got beat by one armed women, but it didn’t dull the fun. No pouting.

Then we put on baseball gloves and played catch. We warmed up the old canon and made that leather pop. At least that was the idea.

Instead we tossed the ball back and forth and it was fun. It was still fun after one of us slipped on a new pile of dog crap left by our dog. The good news is no one fell in it.

During the clean up pause, complications set in. Isn’t a holiday something to bring people together? If you have people, they often gather at specific times.

BoomerPdx Style means sharing the day with others who may not have anyone to share with. It’s a bonus if they like beer.

The kids of the other couple started showing up. Wife and I decided it was a good time to leave and be with out kids, too. At least that was the idea.

Instead, our kids were with others and the only one showing up was wife’s friend whose kids were also busy elsewhere.

We didn’t complain. Complaining isn’t part of the 4th. We were happy for everyone having someone. Now we had someone, too.

We left the baseball, bocci, and beer in Woodstock Park. We left the family gathered for an old fashioned 4th of July picnic done the right way and came home to the sort of emptiness you get when everyone grows up and has other places to go.

Luckily I planned ahead and the fridge wasn’t empty, if you know what I mean, so I spent the next few hours listening to women talk about issues, barbecuing chicken, and silently toasting our Founding Fathers.

Conclusion: Take the best memories you have of any particular holiday and use it to boost the current event.

And if you find yourself with a mitt on one hand and a baseball in the other, stay right where you are. That’s where you belong on a 4th of July, BoomerPdx style.