I miss my day running from 8:00am ‘til 2:00am every day. I miss Thursday “must see tv” parties-for-two at Jessie’s. I miss sitting on her balcony afterwards, eating pints of ice cream and competing to see who could make the grossest sounding fart noise on their arm. I miss waking up to find beer bottles covering every flat surface in the apartment because Robert had a party while we were sleeping. I miss bitching about it with Sarah and Amber as we picked it up. I miss being mad at him until he walked in the door with some sweet gesture of his own like a slab of deer meat. I miss the messages Amber’s mom used to leave on our answering machine and I miss laughing myself to tears with everyone listening to them. I miss Sarah eating cereal for every meal.
I miss dollar-beer Tuesdays at Daiquiri Factory singing, “Baby I Got Your Money” with Molly. I miss Mark being pissed off at EVERYTHING, all the time. I miss meeting Terri at a party where everyone is wearing a toy whistle around their neck and the UT swim team is jumping off of a three-story building into a four-foot swimming pool. I miss seeing the Jew Crew gals out downtown in tube tops and then giving them shit for it.
I miss Turkey & Havarti sandwiches on a Saturday afternoon at Central Market as I watched the kids play on the jungle gym. I miss Mexican Martinis at Cedar Street with Laura. I miss teaching Saturday morning swimming lessons with the worst hangovers known to man. I miss the cars the kids used to make me. I miss Christopher Palachek being scared to put his face in the water. I miss the day he swam on his own being one of the happiest of my life.
I miss Steven playing video games for six hours straight while I watched afternoon television. I miss Abby’s stinky poodle breath and I miss how Amber would always say, “Abby’s breath smells like roses.”
I miss Sunday afternoons laying in the heat on the hill lat Barton Springs. I miss the water being so cold it felt like needles were stinging my whole body. I miss stopping off for a Hawaiian shaved iced on my way home to shower for dinner at Guero’s.
And, I’ve come to realize I love missing all of it so much. It just reminds me how much it was all worth it. The little things always end up being the things you miss the most. That’s why it’s so important to not take the little things for granted.
So, in trying to make every effort not to do so, here are things I know I’ll miss when they’re no longer around…
I love starting out every day with a bowl of oatmeal and a cold Dr. Pepper in a quiet office. I love instant-messaging Jessie all day about all the little things that make us crazy. And, I love that she knows I’m odd enough to consider towels one of the ultimate birthday “prizes.”
I love that my Nanny says “Love ya’ so good.” I love that Mimi doesn’t like computers, but writes letters instead.
I love that Koo calls just to check on you. I love that when you talk to her, she gets out only about one sentence before she has to giggle. I love drunk dials from Terri that always start out with a high-pitched, “What up bitch!?” I love that I don’t talk to Sarah or Robert often, but can still hold them next to my heart. I love talking to Amber when she cackles and gets goofy and starts reminding me of her mom. I love that Alyssa and I have referred to each other only as “pooty” or “poon-tang” for the past five or so years. I love how Hooch is so outspoken in person, but sounds so timid at the start of every phone conversation. I love how she refers to everything with general descriptors like, “It’s whatever.” or “It’s regular.” I love that Robb refers to people as “this one” or “that one” and reads self-help books. I love his bratty tactic of pretending not to care, even when he does. I love that Doo Doo lets me call her Doo Doo and ends almost every conversation with “Forget you, Brian.”
I love that Julia warmly uses your name often in conversation with you. I love that Andrea over uses the phrase, “at any rate..” and that she’s so on top of things that she brings her own bottle opener to parties. I love when Roxie is explaining her quirky thought-process out loud and every sentence is a race to the end where she can giggle and scrunch up her nose.
The little things will always be the easiest to hang on to…
posted by Brian at 5:14 PM
