I snapped this photo of a little boy wishing he could buy fireworks at the local fireworks trailer last year in Arco, ID. It was such a beautiful moment for me.

Watching him look at the fireworks so longingly reminded me of my childhood experience of the Fourth of July. My family was Jehovah Witness, so I wasn’t allowed to celebrate the birth of our nation. I felt a pathetic longing every time I heard the cracks and whistles of fireworks going on outside our house while I tried to sleep. I felt guilty every time I enjoyed seeing fireworks lit by other families on the street.

That little boy, hanging out at the fireworks trailer, wishing beyond hope that he could buy some represents EXACTLY how I felt every year during Independence Day.