Abby's Birthday, Part II
We dined. We laughed. We had helium balloon fights. A toy stethoscope was unboxed. Spanish music was uncharacteristically shut down. It was a typical family gathering in that nothing was regular or predicted. The second guest of honor (Google) was more engaged than Abby herself (she spent her pre-cake-eating time with the younger kids in the hallway while the "adults" talked in the living room). The one absent person spoke louder than the 11 people present at times.
The problematic notion about leaving is you're never really gone. It can be argued that absence increases presence. For example, there's a Thackeryan notion of our commodities - physical manifestations of our ambitions, if you will - outliving us, therefore our memory is immortalized. But if an object captures someone's memory of the self put forward, how does the memory temporally fare? I don't have an answer, but I'm intrigued.
First we ask ourselves, what are you leaving?
My parents are wonderful people and I aspire to be like them in many ways, but like all human beings, they forge a path of successes and failures. When I left home to come to college, I left behind my parent's path to create my own path. But in my leaving I discover I am connecting to their character. My absence from home does not reciprocate their absence from me.
So I ask, when you leave what you leave, do you really leave from anywhere at all? Perhaps it depends on how deeply the character is embedded in your psyche, but I'll broach that subject at a future point.
The problematic notion about leaving is you're never really gone. It can be argued that absence increases presence. For example, there's a Thackeryan notion of our commodities - physical manifestations of our ambitions, if you will - outliving us, therefore our memory is immortalized. But if an object captures someone's memory of the self put forward, how does the memory temporally fare? I don't have an answer, but I'm intrigued.
First we ask ourselves, what are you leaving?
My parents are wonderful people and I aspire to be like them in many ways, but like all human beings, they forge a path of successes and failures. When I left home to come to college, I left behind my parent's path to create my own path. But in my leaving I discover I am connecting to their character. My absence from home does not reciprocate their absence from me.
So I ask, when you leave what you leave, do you really leave from anywhere at all? Perhaps it depends on how deeply the character is embedded in your psyche, but I'll broach that subject at a future point.
Happy birthday, Abby, again! Hope you enjoyed the food and the double helpings of sweets today, make sure you brush your teeth before bed, and of course you can brag about the fact that you share your birthday with Google.
Happy 15th birthday, Google!
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