A Historic Day

I visited the 'rents for my birthday, arriving the day before. They're not even home. From what's left behind, I gather they were busy getting ready to go out for a party. What else is new? I make myself at home, put on pajamas and played with the dogs. These dogs go crazy when I go home. I can tell they actually miss me.

Around 2 am, they come home. I lower the volume on the television, wondering if there's going to be another drunken shouting match in the driveway. Thankfully, there isn't. They walked in loudly and straight to the kitchen like drunk people do. Dad smells of liquor. And Mom runs around trying to please everyone. I wonder if things have always been like this while I was growing up... And I suddenly realize, the 'rents and I have always been barely friends. We don't even know how to be in the same room. We walk past each other at the kitchen crossroads and display the usual niceties you'd expect of other hotel guests at the ice machine.

It doesn't matter. I don't blame them for anything. They're people and just as fucked up as I am. I just hope they grow up for their own sake.

I wake up in "my room", on a bed I bought but rarely slept in, in a room kept for guests. I wonder what's different now that I'm a year older. I lay in bed wondering what I want to do. I want to have breakfast in bed, watch Dharma and Greg, Spin City, and maybe some soft porn (Food Network). The text messages greeting me begin to arrive. The second is from Mom but signed Mom and Dad; a brief greeting with love spelled "luv" -- When did Mom learn texting?!

So, it's my birthday. And I've decided that I will remember this day by shaving my hair. Why not?! Clean, fresh beginning. Maybe all I needed was a brand new haircut? I'll start eating right. Running regularly. Lifting weights. And start thinking happy, constructive thoughts. I'll stop craving liquor at 10am. Yea, that's it! A birthday buzz.

Speaking of buzz, I'm half way through a bottle of Cab. I raided their wine and selected the best in the lot to mark this special occasion. And today is momentous for other reasons. On this day in history, The Guggenheim went up, J Paul Getty III's ear was cut off, and Jack Kerouac died. And, of course, I was born...