at my aunt's 50th birthday party, we played a game where we all had to write down a memorable moment involving my aunt. she was to guess who had written it. "i've got my memorable moment," chris proclaimed, scrawling on a sheet of paper, "there's an open bar, and you're welcome to drink, but don't drink too much if you're driving." my aunt had repeated this four or five times upon our arrival to the restaurant.

his was the first memorable moment pulled, and my aunt immediately guessed, "chris?"

my mom's family always plays games like this, and my aunt rita always organizes them. i wonder if me and my sister will be like this one day, at our own sure-to-be-pitiful family parties. "my memorable moment with marcia," i will write on a sheet of paper, "is when we swore we'd never do this. and yet here we are. here we are."

my mom played her guitar. surely, she had rehearsed for the past three weeks, no less than four hours per day. my younger cousins each said something into the microphone. "i'm having fun at aunt barb's fiftieth birthday," corey said. "i can't wait until she turns sixty."

we almost bought a table set today, but we're both somewhat cheap. we almost bought a coffee table, but it was out of stock. we purchased a lamp after dropping it. looking at each other, we said, "i'm sure it's fine." if we wanted to get another one, we'd have to go up two sets of escalators. that was not going to happen.

we're going to memphis soon. i can finish off that roll of film that i started in virginia four months ago.