i have hit that point in life where memories are as much a focal point as plans.
i spend a lot of time thinking about how it used to be.
i suppose my memory does to me what everybody's memories do to them - wash them into the blur we want them to be.
this time of year, i remember the pool. i almost remember the snack bar more than the pool. no pool would be a good pool without a good snack bar.
i remember bermuda shorts. i never looked good in bermuda shorts but i always liked them. my legs weren't long enough. they're still not long enough.
i remember the smell of "sea and ski" suntan lotion. back then, we tried to get tan. nowadays, we try to block the tan. what a crazy world this is.
i remember what a big deal it was to go to the dairy queen. we'd be in the car, driving home from having been somewhere, and i'd pray to myself silently, "please, dad, stop at the dairy queen. please, dad...." and nine out of ten times, he would. you might think that the best thing at the dairy queen is their ice cream but you'd be wrong. the best thing at the dairy queen is my dad pulling into it.
i remember getting my driver's license. i think everybody remembers getting their driver's license.
i remember thinking how it would be when i finally grew up. how i'd go to the dairy queen ten times outa ten. how i'd never buy a sensible car that gets good gas mileage.
how i'd call in sick to work just because i felt like it.
how, when the sun starts to set,
i'd be
happy.
