|
Memories
Prose & thoughts written by audience members in
response to Memories
- My most recent Birthday is today! My husband brought me to Heartland Cafe for the first time. The meal was great and the poetry, images & dance were interesting. Thanks!
- In grade school I had a party at my house with cake & classmates. I don't remember which Birthday it was but, I still have the photos that Mom took. Everytime I move or rearrange my photos I come across these and see my friend who always was smiling and laughing and at the center of it all. He died in high school and now I'm saddened every time I come across the photos. I don't like birthday parties anymore!
- Forced smiles. Intense concentration. "Happy Birthday"? did you say? Blowing out candles. Making a wish. I don't remember what I wished for when I was a kid. I don't remember many birthdays either. And today my wife is still angry with me because I didn't get her a present for her birthday this year. "Happy Birthday"? did you say?
- Sharing the cake with my uncle, sweating; hot summer seashore gulls squaking complaints; chubby mildly jolly over top some anger that has stalled life; kept fruit from loins. Beer soothing painful memories, maksing lies. My cake, my birthday sharing it with uncle; judging, sarcastic wit. State Beer. Disbelief that 15 year old innocent girls have witnessed war ... the movie Mash opening eyes. Naivete. Drowing under crashing waves on shore and the spark of love extinguished by uncle's judgment. It was my cake, why did I have to share it?
- Money was tight. Jos was six. Gifts were many and small. Strange little doodads. Ten cent rubber creating inflatable beachball. His worried parents heard him say "This is the best birthday of all!"
- A Special Birthday. Better late than never. June 9 '08 was for me a turning point. I didn't realize it on the actual birthday celebration. The following week I received several requests to do favors or chores that did not appeal to me. Earlier I would have tried to be accomodating. Somehow this year was different and I responded by saying, "No, this is not something I'd like to do." How freeing that simple statement was. The first time was the hardest. Now I find that it is so easy to say. Three score and ten plus is not so bad after all.
- Frosting. I like frosting. But not too much. Too much is too sweet. Like many things, frosting is only good in moderation & best saved 4 special occasions & private moments. Candles. I light candles almost every day. Happy Birthday! Every day I am re-born. Every day creating new & happier memories. Why save wishes for only once per year?
- I truly hate birthdays. All that nonsence. In Eurpoe you invite people to come and celebrate with you while you provide food and drink and memories and good stuff. I think it's appropriate to ask oneself to champion ones own being in the world, not to expect the world to give accolades just becasue it's your "birthday." I always got whatever I wanted to eat for my b-day and that was enough.
- What is it about a birthday? The cake, slippery with icing, thick with chocolate to smear on willing lips and cheeks? The candles searing the eyes with dangerous fire - don't touch - blow - blow like the wolf on the pigs' doors. The presents. Ripping ribbons, tearing paper, forcing the contents into the open - to ooh - aah - and on to the next one. What is not to love and celebrate? Life is always good.
- I got the chicken pox on my tenth birthday.
- At my 7th birthday, a friend sang "cha cha cha" between each line of Happy Birthday and it made me cry.
- One of my friends brought a gift for my brother and not for me. We're twins and had a joint birthday party. Thanks, ass.
- The best birthday cake I ever had was in the shape of a cowboy boot with blue icing. Yeehaw!
- Birthdays never lived up to my expectations. And now I don't want anymore. I only live in the today. And if I were sending this to you on email I would type a cleverly ironic emoticon winking at you to let you know I'm lying.
- It's a shame there is only one day a year that celebrates a person in that way. Maybe there should be a monthly birthday, though all that cake consumption can't be good. Within reason, you should get what you want on your birthday. People should be encouraged to make demands.
- She is the only person whose birthday picture I have in the last year. Maybe that will be the only memory I'll have of that time and space. Where will she be one day when I remember this card?
- Nineteen ninety-three in the Eighteenth Century was a distant memory. So penitant and verbose in their poetry and prose. Pandering over land and sea. Never knowing.
- My 9th birthday was cancelled because my 7 year old cousin died of leukemia 1 day before my birthday.
- Birthday Cake! 1. Angel food. 2. Chocolate. 3. Nuts. 4. Applesauce. 5. Banana. 6. Carrot. 7. Coconut. 8. Marble Barbie. 9. Pumpkin. 10. Pistachio. 11. Boston cream. 12. Black bottom. 13. Green tea. 14. Strawberry. 15. German chocolate. 16. Peach. 17. Caramel. 18. Pineapple.
- I celebrate my birthday alone and then in September theirs too. Me - the oldest child, the only "child" left, the last (first) of 3, 2 gone now before me - an unpleasant reality, a bad surprise and unlucky roll of the dice.
- On my birthday party I went to the Grove. I petted a turtle and a snake. What fun!
- Old photos, like old friends - now older friends, older photos. Young me & there's my sister. White frame photos - 70s. My sister's birthday too.
- She expected it to be a moment when she would be the center of attention, but it didn't turn out that way. Just as she thought should have happened at the wedding and expected to happen at her child's bat mitzva. Never again will I trust my husband to plan a party. Now I will do it right. I will buy a most beautiful cake if I want to and then tell him where I want the reservations to be made. That day I will go shopping and treat myself with utmost care. I will choose and buy a present then I can love him because I gave myself just what I wanted. What a happy birthday.
- Taking the cake. Almost 40 years from my 16th Bday, a friend writes a long florid letter apologizing for stealing the cake at my birthday party. For years, I had blamed the wrong friend. After 1 year I had broken up with the girlfriend who made the cake. For five years, I may have remembered the incident. Forty years later, I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Until my mother reminded me. My buess is the letter was more about recovery than anything else. I didn't receive the cake but my friend received a clear conscience. At least I hope he did.
- Birthdays are fun. Birthdays are happy. It is fun to be with your friends. Fun playing with your friends on your birthday.
- The birth of a child brings change, but does not always bring joy. Sometimes the birth requires you to dig deep and discover what it means to live and be alive. If you survive and your child survives, the birthday returns each year to remind you of the lesson.
- "A, B, C, I'm telling you 1, 2, 3" dancing like crazy to the 5 on my 8th as the only child void of color, I was then forever changed and full of music, dance, and color.
- Cleveland. The Poets Club. Monday Night football. Where am I? Birthday for the young. Gambling for the old. A win. Happy Birthday. Cleveland.
- Dressel's chocolate whip cream cake.
- The biggest disappointment of my kindergarten experience was that my birthday was in the summer. That meant I didn't have my own special day when I would wear a paper crown and stand before the class while they sang Happy Birthday to just me. My mother didn't bring cupcakes to class.
- Fifth child of six. Third girl of four. Birthdays were the one day to claim the spotlight. To standout, or stand-up. Even if my mother always served lemon pound cake - my Dad's favorite cake.
|
