Dear Independence Celebrators:

Fourth of July 1975 was the year I learned the deeper meaning of fireworks. That spring, my parents had sponsored the Vans, a Vietnamese family of nine who lived with us until my mom and dad found a rental home for them in another neighborhood in Omaha. We helped settle them with donated furniture and household items, and my mother chauffeured the children to schools and helped their mom negotiate American grocery shopping.

To me, July 4th was about fireworks.