Explosive Celebration

It's amazing how often God protects us from stuff we don't even realize. For instance, watching fireworks on July 4th. We gathered, as has been Henderson family tradition (although I admittedly have been gone the last 4 July 4ths) at my grandmother's condo on St. Pete Beach. The city of St. Pete Beach usually puts on a kickin' show. Apparently this year, they had some new folks in charge of the pyrotechnics who kicked a little too much.

We watched the dramatic conclusion of the fireworks display outside by the pool, not more than 75 feet away from where they were shooting them off. And then came a boom much louder than any other boom we'd heard or expected. Something blew up.

But the show must go on. So with people running from the boardwalk into the pool area, some more fireworks went off, and then another BOOM. That, as far as I remember was the end. The ever so explosive end.

The newspaper recorded 12 injuries, with the hotel next door loosing many windows in the explosion. I recorded one more injury, lucky # 13: my sister-in-law took a huge splinter to the thigh, with some burns as well. The splinter has been removed by my Pop's, but the burns are a different story.

We were all very fortunate nothing hit our faces or eyes-since, unlike the 80's song, I don't wear my sunglasses at night (or protective goggles either). And my wife noticed on the way home that a ton of things can always go wrong, at virtually any point in time. But it is not until something goes wrong that we thank God for His protection (or blame Him). Perhaps we should thank God more often when things go 'right.'

If you want to read about the explosion to end all explosions, the Chernobyl of St. Pete Beach check out the St Pete times coverage of the story by clicking here.