Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

​Fireworks in Ashville, Ohio
 
Probably everyone in Pickaway County knows about the fireworks in Ashville. I had never been there or to any fireworks until I was sixteen in the summer of 1954. My boyfriend invited me to go with him and his parents. They had a big Buick and planned to go and spend the day at the carnival-like shindig. It is hot in July in Ohio, so we spent the day eating carnival food then getting in and out of the car to rest and cool off.
 
In the evening we sat in the car in the shade under the trees talking. We had been together all day and we really did like one another. Waxing romantic, he said, “I’ll graduate in two years and then we can…..” I knew what he was going to say but I couldn’t let him say it. I interrupted him and said, “You can buy a car.” He was not happy! He said, “That is not what I was going to say.” I knew it wasn’t. I don’t know if I wasn’t ready to hear it or if it was prophetic.
 
We watched the fireworks while he held my hand as we stood under a tree. Every time a big firecracker was shot off, he unknowingly squeezed my hand. By the time the fireworks show was over, I realized that my hand had been held so tightly, it was almost numb.
 
And yes, that was as close to a proposal that we ever got. We broke up the next summer. 
 
And they call it puppy love….but it made for a memorable July 4th.
 
©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2021
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck

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