A Mo Fourth

4th of July in 1973 was a great time at the Fine house. Mo's brother Buddy looked forward to the parade route that ran on the subdivided street in front of their West Bloomfield home. The planning began with a big brothers vision of his sweet little sister proudly displaying the decorated bike on the parade route that glorious day on the 4th of July. Buddy planned the day with brilliant detail and creativity. His vision for her day on the bike include beautifully adorned spokes with patriotic crepe paper that glistened as they spun, with the wind in her hair and a wide smile as she rode down the street and waved at the crowd. He carefully wrapped the paper around the handlebars while Mo watched in awe of him as he created the best decorated bike in the neighborhood just for her. Buddy thought about the greatness of Evil Knievel and how he would decorate his own bike for such an important day. What would Evil do? He thought as he carefully embarked on manipulating the fragile crepe paper around each spoke with Knievel like precision, driving the colors to perfection as he spangled the stars and stripes and sparkled the seat and hand grips with sparkle tape that he found at the K Mart earlier that week when he planned out the bikes' glory for his baby sister Mo.

Buddy did this every year for Mo. Each year with the same outcome. The most amazing bike in the parade, undoubtedly the most thought and creativity put into it, the same happy face riding it with pride on the route to the end. Mo and her brother waited each year as the judges pinned the categories as follows: Most Creative Bike, Most Patriotic Bike, Biggest Bike, Smallest Bike, Prettiest Bike, Coolest Bike, and of course the coveted Best Bike. Each year they left with no prize. No ribbon to reward the amazing work of art that Buddy created for his little sister. They never minded though because they understood that they were not being judged on the bike at all. Mo and Buddy understood the American way early on. The world of American politics was fast at work right in their very own neighborhood but the prize never mattered to them, the outcome was never their goal. Instead, it was for them the time they spent together as big brother and little sister that would be fondly remembered so many years later. The two of them were never prouder than they were each year on the 4th of July.