After July 4, 1976 I Knew We Were Here to Stay

My husband and I were from New Jersey originally, but his post-graduate-school job brought us to Michigan for a few years. As our families were all back in NJ, the twice-a-year and very long drives between Michigan and New Jersey--with toddlers, babies, and/or pets--took a toll on us all (Pennsylvania NEVER seemed to end). After the last child was born, a new job offer in NYC brought us rushing back and we had one week to find a house. Millburn Township was one of the places in which we house hunted and we quickly found a 'starter' home close to the train station, then raced back to Michigan to pack.

We left Michigan in July 1976, with much relief that this would be the last of Route 80 that we would see. We arrived in the general vicinity of our new community the next day, but after driving aimlessly around Millburn and Short Hills for an hour or so, trying to find our street (this was before the GPS), we stopped in downtown Millburn and asked for help. The first two people we approached had no idea where our street was either, so on that horribly hot and humid July afternoon, we piled back in the car and drove around and around again, until we accidentally landed on our street.

The next few days were typical horrible/hot/humid July-in-New Jersey weather and we suffered--and unpacked and unpacked and unpacked--in a house with only one ancient window air conditioner. After days of heat so oppressive that we often just lay on the floor in puddles, punctuated by our now-infamous Glenwood power outages, we welcomed the holiday respite from work and took the children to see Millburn's July Fourth celebration.

As the days' events unfolded, welcomed us all in, then wound down, I turned to my husband near the end of the fireworks and said, "I want to stay here forever. I LOVE the old-fashioned, small-town feel of this whole July Fourth celebration." It was absolutely enchanting to me--and it still is.

Year after year of those wonderful small-town Fourth of July celebrations followed. One of them brought Bob McGrath of Sesame Street to us and we listened to and laughed with him in...was it the high school auditorium? Or what was then the junior high school auditorium? Afterwards he autographed his record album for our children and we still have it (see the photo here, with the names blurred to protect the innocent). Another year was a genuine old-fashioned circus-under-the-big-top behind the library. Every year reinforced my passion for this wonderful celebration.

Last year I was kindly invited to be a part of the July Fourth Committee and I am delighted to be able to help repay in some small way all the debt I owe for enjoying so many wonderful celebrations. I am also humbled to see how hard this committee works to bring this all to our town and on how tight a budget they struggle to do that. The committee depends upon our donations to produce the daylong celebration of games, food, fun, and fireworks. Please join me in thanking every one of the other committee members for their year-long hard work on our behalf and please consider making a donation to them to keep this wonderful, old-fashioned, small-town event as exceptional and endearing as it continues to be. Donations can be made to the Millburn-Short Hills 4th of July Committee; PO Box 4; Short Hills NJ.

Oh, I should add that all of us were so enchanted by this neighborhood, too, that we never left our starter home. In fact, I found that some of the children who grew up here at the same time as our children did are coming back and trying to buy houses in this neighborhood.

Oh, and one of our children went to the University of Michigan...so we were back on Route 80 again, as we dropped off and picked up again for those university years. Oh, and he is a lawyer now and works in Michigan...but I fly there now.