The 4th of July is an American holiday that fills the air with explosions smoke and the smell of BBQ. It is the celebration of American independence from British Imperialism. A celebration that terrifies pets and wild animals with fireworks. Unlike all the celebrations of war however, I totally fucking love the 4th of July!
Maybe I'm getting old so I'm less enthralled with the holiday or maybe I've discovered something more appealing than booze and bombs. This years celebration was very different from my tradition of drinking beer and blowing up the empty bottles with illegally modified fireworks. Or my alternative tradition of drunkenly riding my bike around the city while sipping on a bottle of tequila and eventually crashing a party or BBQ. This year I stayed home with my girlfriend and we ate LSD.
All day the city echoed the pops and whistles of fireworks and we sipped ciders left over from the night before. Each of us ate one and a half acid laced sugar cubes around Seven P.M. and put on a stupid movie to wait until the drug began to show its effects. About half way into the movie the acid crept in. I felt it grip my spine. My jaws began to tighten and my face contorted into the classic Cheshire cat grin. The shivers rolled around my body making me giggle and moan with its energy. Sitting on the couch I curled into the fetal position and hugged my pillow. We began to writhe and stretch as the LSD opened our minds to the tension in our bodies. Excitement and blissful joy energized us priming us for all that could happen. A loud series of bangs shot through the house from the fireworks in the street. The abrupt absurdity of it broke our tension and we laughed hysterically.
We finished the movie and stepped outside to explore the vines and trees in our back yard. We admired the fractal spirals in the sunflowers and ate some josta berries. We could only be outside for a few minutes because the sulfur smell from the fireworks was intolerable. I decided music is what we needed so I played the essential Pink Floyds' "Dark Side of the Moon" followed by Tychos' "Sunrise Projector" as we looked through a massive coffee table picture book of cosmic photographs. We stared at the nebulae and galaxies and planetary images taken by the Hubble Telescope for nearly an hour. The nebulae waved and sparkled in one trippy image after another. The Ant nebula expanded forever and the Eagle Nebula reached out to swallow us.
Inspired by the Technicolor worms and Amish blankets surrounding us we broke out the art supplies. But I could not focus on anything long enough to record this inspiration with color. I retreated to the bathroom and laughed at the absurdity of my face in the mirror. Horror and wonder rippled across my face and I laughed and laughed at the sight of it all. My eyes like saucers I made goofy expressions to see the shape of my face contort into the ugliest of masks.
This was one of the few LSD adventures that did not result in a grand awakening. It did however relieve the tension and stress we've been feeling since I quit my soul sucking job a month before. This trip was not filled with visions and revelations. Instead it was one filled with joy and relief and reaffirmed our faith in each other. It was a journey that let us abandon our apprehensions and embrace each other in the realization that everything is temporary. It reminded us that all we really have is the time we spend on each other. It expanded our love for one another. It smothered us in forgiveness and understanding. I imbued us with the understanding that everything really is going to be OK.
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