a link to the past

i just got off the phone with nini and jayjay, the old couple who babysat me and a few generations of kids. with graduation, an announcement was sent out that preceded a cross-state forwarding marathon of congratulations and thank you cards that finally ended today. "At this special time in your life may your dreams guide you to a wonderful future filled with success and happiness." The card itself seems as old as me, out of a stock drawer of theirs, that depicts flowers, a diploma, and a globe clearly showing the great stretch of the mighty USSR. most of my earliest memories were from staying with them for the better part of my four year old days. sleeping mats. canned spinach. getting my tooth knocked out in the great wheel barrow massacre of '87. the pattern on their white ceiling fan in the white room in the back of their house that i laid under after a firm spanking. considering how many toddlers they'd had under that roof, they still recall stories of me watching chilly willy and questioning the concept of perspective.

right before that i held a conversation with my newly seven year old nephew about his birthday gamecube. i at 23 have equally been enjoying the vices of video game immersion lately along with the near sighted problem solving of saving zelda for the fifteenth time. of course, the light arrows! i clearly remember my sister telling me how she'd beaten the nes original when i was away. i couldn't ever master that maze, but i guess i've showed her.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.