[Kuzco]: 212.Famous First Lines entries.String of Memories

String of Memories

I could never remember when it was that May started to be thought of as my birthday month.

When was it people around me started making that association? I couldn’t remember. I could remember though, that at the time I paid no mind to that change, which can be considered the reason why I didn’t save that information I now consider curious hence mildly important.

That was before, some say as you get old your head starts failing and the brain takes some holidays from time to time, particularly from its responsibilities regarding memory. Others say that, actually, as you mature…not get old, mature further and further, you grow wise as the body withers, that you start remembering things from the past, that your memory works better, not worse.

I don’t have the scientific ability to confirm either claim but it is my belief, from what I know and have thought about, that it is the attention that goes down, as you grow old. When one is young, one is learning, absorbing and there are some things that get shoved deep inside the well we call memory. When you are mature, your priorities shift in the sense that you want to remember, you want to know what happened then with whom and how and since the information is still in there it comes out naturally whilst short term memory starts crashing and hence gets much harder to actually learn new things.

Of course this is generally speaking; there are exceptions to every rule. I always say every rule has exceptions, the better the rule, the harder it is to find exceptions.
But on with it because I recently remembered that fact; it’s funny how a seemingly unimportant information with no relation whatsoever to anything anywhere “anywhen” can actually branch out so many things.

One day of May somewhere along the line of my childhood a recent friend asked me on which day was my birthday and I answered. I remember that that month started being associated with my birthday by that boy who would later, 20 years afterwards, become my best man. I remember he threw an incredible party in my honor for he was rich and I was poor but he had been made to go to a public school because of his behavior. That took me to how we met which was in the street where I helped him against some thugs which leads me to remember how loyal he is, particularly on a day years after where he drove for 200 miles to get me because I urgently needed a lift and didn’t have money for gas. I then remembered the party was at his house, housed around 30 peeps and only 5 knew that party was for me, technically mine. That took me to the day, two years after where I met my wife for the first time and befriend her, to the night we kissed, to the wedding day which was paid by my best man which took me back to the day, third birthday party he did in my honor, where everyone knew me and sang happy birthday for me.

That took me to the year after where almost everyone in the School with a difference of 2 to 3 years of us knew May as the month my birthday was celebrated.
My birthday month.

It was that way it started and that way it continued. My whole family made up of my mother, her sister and a cousin who was like a father to me, loved me greatly and so May was also not my birthday month but my “Birthmonth”. My month. That took me to why I argued with my wife about the wedding day, I didn’t want it to be in May for that reason. After years and years of treating it as my birthday month, it was hard for me to imagine anything else of importance to happen in May which took me to my make up maneuver which included a violin, silly clothes, some roses and a week long wait for the right sunset.

That took me to the day we saw the Niagra Falls on our honey moon which took me to the day my son was born, delivered by my best man who’s a doctor now which again took me to my childhood days to remember he was the one that first introduced me to her and kept the sharks from trying to nab her while I mustered the guts and courage to make my move. I remember how hesitating is foolish which takes me to when I made my move, also my birthday party. I then remembered what I wanted to follow up on, my university days. The days of painful unlimited work and study; there is more to it than work, unfortunately, and those are the parties which are crazy-filled with adolescent-frustrated adults going all out on their needs and wants; my best man kept on the tradition of hosting my birthday party which was the only one where no one got out absolutely trashed and demolished. I remember when I had the idea to mix some brain stimulating medicines in the drinks I served at my birthday party, for we all had written tests and group assignments that month; sure enough, most of them went well in all of them and hence May started being referred to as my birthday month. It’s weird when they no longer call it May, I remember a friend of mine counting the months from February to August and calling it my Month: “We got February, March, April, Your month, then June, July and finally Vacations.”

I remember helping out a number of friends who now work and lead good lives, I remember my yearly dinners with them, the one where we ate so much we made wagers on who could go the longest without taking a dump. My best man won with the amazing time of 2 days; I remember laughing at when he finally gave in, screaming of alleviation in the middle of break time at college. I remember my all nighters talking to my girlfriend, now wife, which takes me to the incredible dramas with her parents which reminds me not to be so strict with my own daughter…which takes me back to when I met her little sister and helped her babysit her siblings; that takes me to when I met her best friends and her college which was really great.

I remember even some teachers started jesting about May being my month of the year, it was funny. That memory takes me to when some of them wrote letters of recommendation that got me an interview in a very important firm which takes me again to the lack of gasoline and being saved by my best man who got me there in record time. I got the job, I remember that the first May I didn’t throw a party, subjective “I” of course, was that year. My company was in trouble so I worked mornings, days and nights on coffee and eastern drugs for alerting the mind and singlehandedly saved a thousand dollar worth project. I remember the secretary told them that my birthday had passed and that I had spent it working and hence they threw a small party for me at the end of the Month and casually, afterwards, started referring to it as, again, my month. I thus remember my raises and promotions, again the birth of my son, becoming a partner of my boss, vacations and yearly dinners with my past college colleagues, the birth of my beautiful daughter and a lifetime of other experiences.

I could never remember when it was that May started to be thought of as my birthday month, but who would’ve thought such a brief ephemeral moment… “We’re getting close to my birthday month, can’t wait!” “Hey, today’s your first day right? Hahaha” Would be linked by subtle threads and fragile cords, to a whole life I have lived and will never leave behind. 

© Hugo Damas