Saturday, September 13, 2008

Goodbye Waves and Driveways

I don't want my birthday to happen this year. My parents keep asking me what I want. My mom thinks my old Birkenstocks are looking pretty crappy, so therefore I must want new ones. My dad thinks my iPod is breaking (okay so maybe it is...) so therefore I must want another one. What's wrong with all the stuff I have already? It's like "Into the Wild" when Christopher's parents want to buy him a new car for graduation. Why should he want a new car? What's out there to be seen and experienced is so far past any form of temporary, superficial joy that material things can get you. My mom wants me to have a party, because you only turn sixteen once. Not a big thing, like maybe ten kids and a boom box. But how do you tell your mom that the only people you want to celebrate your birthday with are the most amazing forty six individuals you've ever had the joy of spending your summer with, and all of them are sprawled across the country? How do you say nicely: "no, I don't want your shit. I don't want your money. I don't want an iPod or shoes or any of that crap. I don't want any thing. I want my family back."

How on earth do you explain that to your mom?
And how can you love your birthday without that Santa Rosa sunshine?

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