For the last twelve years, our family tradition today is to be in Cuchara, CO, but because of the Spring Fire, all roads in Cuchara are closed, and firefighters are working hard to protect that delightful mountain village. My holiday has a dark shadow of sadness today.
So Plan B for the Horner family is a trip to Red River, NM for WestFest, a celebration of country life by Michael Martin Murphey.
As children, our aunt and uncle came up from Albuquerque, NM for the holiday and brought my brother and me Black Kat firecrackers. We swam at the Folsom Falls then returned to Branson for the fireworks display the local town fathers had organized. We started the evening’s fun with Sparklers then marveled at the colors and explosions.
All of my life my family has celebrated this day with fireworks, good food, and lots of laughter with family and friends. I will do the same today with an ache in my heart for Cuchara and the surrounding area where they are fighting for the survival of their homes and way of life.
Today I want to reflect on how blessed I am to live in this wonderful country–the land of the free and the Home of the brave. I cherish the rights I have to live as I choose, to believe in my God as I understand Him, and to have my political views. We each have those same rights; I encourage you to think about those rights today and be thankful and stand up for what you believe.
Happy 4th of July to you and yours! A special kiss and hug to my husband, Lin, who wasn’t able to join us today!
Larada Horner-Miller is a poet, essayist and accomplished multi-genre author who holds a bachelor’s degree in English, with a minor in Spanish and a master of education degree in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. She is the accomplished author of six award-winning biographies, historical fiction, memoir, and poetry works plus three self-published cookbooks.
Her sixth book, Coronavirus Reflections: Bitter or Better?, is available in paperback and four e-book formats. Larada offers the reader the opportunity to look back at 2020 and the global pandemic through her prose and poetry through reading, then reflecting and responding. She addresses all the emotions she felt during this overwhelming time and leads the reader through to a self-access: bitter or better?
Her fifth book is the authorized memoir and biography of world-renown square dance caller Marshall “Flip” Flippo. Just Another Square Dance Caller: Authorized Biography of Marshall Flippo is available now in hardback, paperback and four e-book formats. Recently Just Another Square Dance Caller won two awards: Book Excellence Awards Finalist and Silver award for eLit. Book Awards.
Another recent book of hers, A Time to Grow Up: A Daughter's Grief Memoir has won many awards including being a 2018 Book Excellence Awards Finalist in the Memoir category at the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards and a 2018 Independent Press Distinguished Favorites Award in the Memoir category. Horner-Miller has also been a past national presenter at the Women Writing the West Conference and is currently the creator of Memoir Workshops for others who want to share their family’s legacies through words.
Larada and her husband, Lin, enjoy being nestled in the mountains above Albuquerque, New Mexico, near the village of Tijeras. When not writing books, this passionate, energetic, and enthusiastic woman loves to spend time kicking up her heels at square dancing gatherings, traveling, knitting, and reading.
As co-manager of her family’s southeastern Colorado ranch, she enjoys spending time exploring her family’s historic ranch and reminiscing with her brother and his children about their mom, dad, and granddad.
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