from an incident about 4 or 5 years ago with a roman candle. Had a couple stuck in  the ground to set off simultaneously. Before I lit them, one of my boys picked one of them up and brought it over to me. I asked him to put it back, which he did. My mistake was that I didn't go back over and check that it was secure in the ground before lighting it. After lighting it, I turned and lit the one to the right of it while the first one had began to shoot it's flaming balls. I turned to look at it just as it fell over towards me and as I turned away, a flaming ball caught me right below the left eye. A half an inch higher and I probably would've lost an eye. Had a VERY black eye for some time. It scabbed over as the skin was broken and I had blurred vision for a couple of days. There is still a very small dark spot just below my eye as a constant reminder, every time I look in the mirror, of the importance of safety while being around fireworks. Hope everyone had a very safe and happy Independence Day celebration!