I REMEMBER…
I remember upside-down Tupperware on the kitchen floor and the way the smooth tile and sandy grout felt on my knees
I remember turkey and ketchup and applesauce and corn, removed from the cob
I remember backing into that skinny tree playing tag with Alex and Christina, and the way my elbow bled and stung
I remember when my friend Michael and I both got the same roller-blades from Santa and was thus convinced of the jolly fat man’s existence for years to come
I remember throwing a conniption fit on the kindergarten nature walk
I remember the greenish plaid shorts I used to wear with the orange and black and blue striped shirt—a fashion statement, to be sure
I remember the old carpet in the basement that looked like orange and red mouths and hid so many little spiders
I remember the garage sale with Alex and Christina and I thought the stickers that said “J” meant me instead of John and Joan, their parents, and I was embarrassed
I remember eating Danimals yogurts and microwave french-fries in the kitchen with my grandma—I’d take the little stickers with pictures of animals from the yogurts and put them on my trash-can at home to be more like Dad: the trash-can in his office was covered with old radio station bumper-stickers and Texas burnt-orange
I remember writing science-fiction stories in wide-ruled composition notebooks
I remember playing Star Wars at recess and the time I fell off Will’s back, tailbone-first onto the retaining wall near the fence
I remember playing a shrub in the second-grade dinosaur play while my friend Tyler stole the show—he danced with a top hat and cane, and I stood there with a broken arm and fake leaves
I remember having to sit on the wall as a punishment for sneaking Oreo cookies to recess
I remember Alex and Christina’s basement and the way it smelled like cold concrete
I remember swimming with Alex and how I could never touch the bottom of the deep end with my hand while he did it with such ease
I remember ordering at the McDonald’s drive-thru and they gave Dad a fish fillet sandwich—the wrong order, and it was funny
(an imitation of Joe Brainard’s “I Remember”—see this link)
