a quarter century gone

in the past twenty-five years of my seemingly sitcom-worthy life, i have had, to my knowledge (sober knowledge):

seven homes i have never knowingly vandalized,

no car (in my name), the car i dinged the side of on the pillar of eastwood parking place (of all places) not mine,

five schools unlucky enough to have accepted me and thus committed to providing me with an education (though not necessarily the best education, as my earlier whining posts have shown), a high school degree, a college degree, and i hope soon to follow a law degree,

one father who torments me and thus far has been my role model when it comes to having ambition, having direction, enjoying the simpler things in life, and drinking a lot. a father i admire and love, and from time to time torment with off-color remarks, sarcasm i inherited from him, financial and academic disasters, and other miscellaneous drama associated with having a crazy daughter with a penchant for getting into trouble,

a mother i wish i could say a lot of nice things about,

five sisters of various shapes and sizes, all of us with the same eyes and smiles, with whom i have had plenty of fights and plenty of nice bonding time tormenting our aforementioned beleaguered father, who i love and cherish in spite of all things bad, because of all things good that they are,

two nephews (i wish were born to any other sister but the one they were born to, but i hope will serve as her chance for redemption) who are the light of our lives and the bane of our existence,

a LOT of cousins (my dad has nine brothers and sisters, my mother, five. go figure)

two grandmothers ( having lost my maternal grandfather to a plane crash before i was born, and having lost my beloved paternal grandpappy seven years ago) who in the twlight of their years are as beautiful as ever,

friends i have had for years, and hope to keep forever,

friends newly made, and also hope to keep forever,

friends who have sadly been lost to disagreement and fundamental differences,

enemies i could do without,

blockmates who have taught me perseverance in the face of adversity, shown me beauty in diversity, and recognition of wonderful opportunities,

old boyfriends who have made my life miserable and happy and strange, some of whom are my friends, some i would rather relegate to that little part of my brain i unlovingly refer to as blemishes on my resume,

a boyfriend i truly adore and admire and hope to keep for a long time to come, who has made me happy and sad (more happy than sad), and who i hope will keep me, who drives me home every night just to see me, who i annoy and disturb and crank call.


bad dreams, good dreams, songs i would like to listen to all day, memories of happy and sad moments, books i would like to take with me to the end of days, things i've written of what i've experienced, a perfect sun i once watched set on a beautiful day, a night without stars i drank and danced away, things i have lost and never found, opportunities i missed and always regretted, knowledge of things i never knew i would have.

twenty five years of stupidity and brilliance, of dull and shiny bright, of happiness and misery, of love and not love, of having and losing, of existing in an eternally unpredictably shaky plane.

i could've done with a lot less misery, but on the whole, it's been a great thing, really.

i don't know what the next quarter century holds for me, or if i even have a quarter century to go. but i hope it will be with the people i love, with more wisdom than i have lived the past years, and with more happiness.