In memory

I don't remember it too clearly, more like a string of still pictures joining the previous episode with the other. But somehow, I remember that it was happy. Redondo Beach, riding the roller blades (I hear only gay men use roller blades now)... I remember our two parakeets in the outside veranda how they'd sqawk at night and how we let them out when we moved to Alaska. When we were unemployed how my father left early every morning to sell burritos in some hole in the wall downtown LA. I remember when we laughed at the meager money we made that day.. or was it that month? 200 dollars. Five mouths. Hopeless, but hilarious. I thought it was big money back then. The day I won that radio contest... That Korean girl by the swimming pool, a friend of a friend of a friend (I wonder where she is now?) That boy who went to fetch for help when I broke my collarbone. Max Oh, where the hell is that kid nowadays? We used to play Super Mario RPG and eat fried rice with milk everyday... which is what I ate today. I hear he's back in Korea though. Too many faces there, I can't find him. Who else? Mrs. Nicoletti, an attractive fourth grade teacher; she was pregnant then, her child would be... 11 years old now. I wonder if she's still together? Probably not... Dami, that was her name. I'm friends with her on Facebook now, you know? But nine years... damn, that's a long time. The beach trip that we went on, I remember. There was a contest to make the best sandcastle so that night I had gone to the library to read tips on how to make the best sandcastle. Apparently mixing light glue with water would help the sand adhesion. That kid, Travis Day. I heard he's a skater now, and the twins, they had turned bad by the time they reached sixth grade. Tyler Nazareth? Nazariym? He must have been Jewish, haha, and that kid Jacob. I cried in his room because I was the only one who couldn't memorize the Pledge of Allegiance. Ahh, and Amber, the love of my 3rd grade. She patted me on the head once in class I remember and I was so happy. That was weird, but she used to hang out with me. But I never got to hold her hand in field trips to the missions. Idyllic, peaceful, violin graced childhood of mine.