SILSBEE, Texas — Communities all over Southeast Texas are gearing up to celebrate America's freedom by lighting up the sky with fireworks, but one woman said each 'boom' makes her cringe.
"I never liked firecrackers anyways," Dorothy Beard said. "Now, from now on since December 31, I'll always have a remembrance of him."
December 31, 2018, is the day she lost her 49-year-old son, Rory McGlynn.
Beard says McGlynn was in the family's backyard lighting firecrackers.
She says the firecracker was facing backward on his shoulder, and when it fired, it struck him right in the chest.
It's a memory she can't erase.
"Every time I walk out the back door, I can look to see where he was laying down and what all was going on out there."
She says Rory loved firecrackers, and he set them off every year, but now, she warns others to be careful.
"People think that they won't do anything to them, but they will," she said. "Take precaution when you pop firecrackers."
Dorothy says she wants others to remember Rory.
She wants everyone to make safe choices this holiday.
"Take your time and listen and do what they say because this could happen to you."