Today’s Life Lesson Brought To You Courtesy of iPhone
Posted by Moose on June 13th, 2010. Filed under: Gene Pool.My mom and I drove up to Nevada City this weekend to celebrate a friend’s 80th birthday. She’s the matriarch of quite a clan, full of siblings who actually like each other and good-natured ribbing over the collective lack of vocal talent. If memory serves, “WE SUCK!” was the rallying call of the off-key John Denver sing-a-long.
I was the only person there born between 1970 and 1985, and so the kids table was drastically diluted by my presence. And possibly corrupted, though I admit nothing. The 32 and Under Table, as it soon became known, was marked by more wine than advisable, given that only two of us were of legal drinking age. I’m fairly certain the eleven and under contingent stuck to Sprite, but they were the leaders in my other Exploit The Children effort, the one entitled The Little Candies In The Green Mesh Bags By Everyone’s Plates Are Delicious So Go Steal Your Parents’ And Bring Them Back Here.
My only defense is that they far outstripped me in devious candy-acquiring techniques. Those kids were downright felonious; surely a mere half hour of my unwholesome encouragement can’t be held fully responsible.
Low on proof of my corrosive influence, but glasses of wine hold still. Nine-year-olds on candy-thieving ninja sneak attacks do not.
The photo I really wanted was of the eldest granddaughter pouring me a ludicrously large glass of wine. Or the nine-year-old returning to the table with five green mesh bags held triumphantly in his slightly grubby fist. But those moments pass too quickly for accurate pixellated capture. Which is why I rarely take pictures. Because why bother? But I’m beginning to realize that other photos are just as worthwhile – for retaining the context of the moment, if not the action.
When I look at that photo up there, I’ll remember the people sitting next to me. The salmon. The Labradoodle named Diego. How nobody knew the words to The Boxer, but sang gamely and tunelessly anyway. That photo will jog the memory of what was happening around the wine glass, which will in turn remind me that a lack of incriminating evidence is probably for the best.
How often do I do that in life? Not do something because I’m convinced it won’t happen the way I want or expect it to? QUITE OFTEN, I IMAGINE. Different than what I want or expect isn’t always a bad thing, and is sometimes even better.
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June 14th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Some of my favorite pictures are the ones that most people wouldn’t look twice at, but to me, they are everything you described above: a memory made complete by just existing to remind me of a single moment I might otherwise have forgotten.
The way each and every photo I have in my house can elicit such strong memories is also the reason I have boxes of photos I have no intention of ever discarding.
June 14th, 2010 at 10:23 am
I really WANT to be over the whole, you hate John Denver thing, but I’m still working through my emotions on it.
Knowing that you participated in a sing-along helps, though.
Ever so slowly, I shall heal.