Memorabilia

It’s bright, more so than usual, and I realize I’ve woken up at half past eleven. Still, despite the luncheon hour and late start, I begin my day as per usual. Then, whilst deleting my last email, I remember that my cousins from Austin are her for the day – from dawn `til dusk. Keeping this happy thought in mind, I complete my morning ritual, Pandora Radio playing and keeping my need for music satiated. Then comes the call, right after finishing my cereal, to come and eat lunch.

I throw on my favourite Anchor Blue jeans, grab my beige/burgundy shirt and head out. I discover my little cousins all swarming about and not eating – the adults leaving them be for now. One tween and four brats, it’s a sweet combination of noise, fun, and snot. I eat, and then engage in a series of games of connect four – winning more often than not and having laughs over all the silly mistakes on both sides. The rest of the afternoon is filled with the five youngsters, some karaoke on the part of my mother and aunts, and then a small shopping trip.

And what else but music fills my purchases. Music is my life, and the happy notes of the afternoon bubble between my aunts and I – my mother indulgently smiling and just enjoying the ride with the rest of us. It’s an amazing wave of laughs, pleasant quiet moments, and the joy of some self-indulgence just because. It’s the days like this that I live for – people close to me having just living their day and relishing in the clean sunlight, fresh air, and each others company. And for each I have at least one piece of memorabilia – the off white shirt I bought with the solid-color image of a video cassette with the tape pulled out and the caption “let the music flow”; the picture of the family from Christmas, specifically the one of all the cousins and our grandparents; the movie-ticket from one the awesomest movie nights ever. After all, who are we but the sum of our memories?