The Past, The Future

In 5th grade I decided that my birthday party that summer would be the party of the year. I consulted friends and acquaintences and settled on a barbeque, complete with Slip-n-Slide, right in my own backyard. I individually handwrote personalized, multicolored invitations to the entire 5th grade class and handed them out well in advance so that everyone was sure to save the date. Months in advance. It must have been May. When the day of the party arrived, I distinctly remember sitting out on my front porch at 4117 Cleveland at precisely 2:00pm, devastated because no one came. Not a soul. Not until Jenny Metzner showed up at around 4:00 and became my own personal savior. She gave me a little brown teddy bear which I still have around somewhere, and said something totally dramatic that seemed poignant at the time about how it reminded me of her in some absurd way. We walked around the neighborhood gossiping until her parents came to pick her up a couple of hours later, and complete disappointment was eased.

(Please allow this entry to serve as a gentle, no pressure reminder that my birthday is precisely one month from today!!! You can take the girl out of the birthday, but you can't take the birthday out of the girl.)