My B-side

Skipping Birthdays

I put down the lid on my Physical Science book and leaped onto my featherbed. Just as I was about to envision dancing sugar plums I realized that I had failed to set my alarm. So, I grabbed my cell phone and started plugging in the dreadful hour of 9 a.m. I double checked the date (just in case). It’s funny what memories a simple 12 and 4 mixed with a few backslashes can impose on you. I thought of how the clock was striking 3 in the old Vern and silently wished that the silent treaty was gone…just for one night. Half tempted to text him a Happy Birthday; I settled for a Dashboard song, some things will always be so impossible. This isn’t the first time I thought about his birthday or how he forgot mine. I woke up early this morning and called every friend I had left in the state of Indiana, begging them to do what one who is 1600 miles away could not…decorate his locker. This is a childish tradition that continues to stir up guilt inside of me (I skipped the act last year because of a similar silent treaty). Unfortunately (or perhaps it WAS fortunate), no one was available and I left it at that. After all, we haven’t spoken in 3 months; it would be ridiculous to go out of my way for him. But nevertheless, he has been my best (yet worst) buddy since the 10th grade. (And if you are thinking: Woo, 3-year-old-friendship, like that’s worth a penny, realize…) It’s not that he’s been my best friend for the past 3 years; it’s that he will be my best friend for the next 62. Even if we don’t speak but once from now til then. Unwritten rules override silent treaties…Happy Birthday Matt Rice.

posted by Melissa at 17:55