4th of July Weekend

This year the holiday came in the midst of protests for Black Lives Matter focusing on the lives of Elijah McClain because he lived and was killed in Aurora, a suburb of Denver. For the last month, protests have occurred every night downtown, as well as marches, and vigils for Elijah, George, and Breonna during the weekends. Because of the uptick of force used by the police and violent protestors, I haven't felt safe to leave my neighborhood on my own at night. Especially since I am a Deaf African American female without a car. I try not to be pessimistic, but I wonder when justice will come. Will our government leaders bravely take the steps needed to ensure than Black Americans are treated the same as White Americans? Will we always have to live in fear to go jogging around our own neighborhoods? I want to believe there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

For the first time, I questioned whether or not I should be celebrating this holiday. Growing up, I don't remember learning about Juneteenth or the fact that my ancestors were still slaves on July 4th. Honestly, since July 4th is the holiday about freedom....only the whites were free. The Native Americans who were living here weren't free either.

Despite all of it, I did manage to have fun this weekend. My friend Josie and I both had the day off on Friday, so we spent the first part of the day hiking near some lakes up north, in Louisville. It was a gorgeous day and thankfully, we didn't feel the hot sun until we were maybe halfway around the looped trail. Afterward, we went to her place for a BBQ. We had burgers and corn on the cob. I made some spiked watermelon lemonade. Yum! It was the first time I hacked open a watermelon. I usually buy it already cut. Wound up using the whole watermelon since we had no idea what to do with the rest of it after I finished making one batch of the lemonade. I left quite a bit at her place haha but we both drank A LOT of it! We chatted for a bit and played with her dog, Autumn. Then as the sun was setting, we decided to walk off what we had eaten that day. We went for a short walk around a lake near her house. On the way to my place, we saw some fireworks. Overall, it was a fun, exhausting day and I'm glad we were able to hang out. We always have fun and I learned some new things about her background. I always enjoy getting to know people, helps me understand them.

The rest of the weekend was low key. I spent most of Saturday recuperating from Friday!! I was so tired, I slept in till 10! Overall, it was a great weekend! Back to work on Monday!