Flashbulbs

Around 2018 I found my best friend in the crowd after tossing my cap into the air. I yelled, “We fucking did it!” Before scrambling to find my cap.

Around 2009 I had my tenth birthday party on our newly finished patio. My mom challenged our family to find the imperfections in the brickwork we had laid. This was the last time my grandpa and uncle were together and healthy.

Around 1999 my parents, Deb and Tom, got married and had me in a three-bedroom house in Florida. I’m not sure if it was technically three bedrooms, but every separate room had been a bedroom at one point or another.

Around 2018 as spring came with its showers, the band students were called to the band room. One of our own had passed away from an old lady driving over the centerline into oncoming traffic. I wrote my research paper for English on license laws regarding elderly citizens.

Around 2001, the world as we knew it changed. I never knew what it was like before that, but at my grandparent’s house in Indiana. The news stayed on all day as we were ready to return.

Around 2016, one grandpa died. I missed who he was before I moved to Indiana. He taught me to be kind and then tried to teach me that the man yelling about assaulting women was the right choice for president.

Around 2015, I came out of the shower and my mom told me that the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of marriage equality. I was happy.

Around 2020 I made a Minecraft server for my best friend called “It’s Corona Time” to cope with the loss of our semi-formed plans for the future. We never did make it to Quebec. Yet.

Around 2019 I met Bella. I’m almost certain she is one of my soulmates but we are otherwise incompatible. Our first interaction was at Target when I asked who had trained her. She had no response.

Around 2018 my mom sent a picture of a puppy in her passenger seat and was surprised that I recognized the car that I regularly rode in.