We Got Annie

My mother’s birthday looms in the future, as do her faint cries of dissatisfaction and disappointment. This is how being away from her is ideal: freedom from things like my mother’s birthday.

So, for now, and especially in this instance, my present tense (literally and figuratively) is not just a bathroom break during the road trip of my life—or better yet, the starter bar, where plans are organized and people’s roles and presences are determined. It’s real time. The night. Tonight. The event for which I’ve lived all this time to experience. This, DC right now is not rehearsal.

But, despite knowing this, the temporality of my surroundings flash like neon signs. I’m knocked in the face with this realization. That it’s fleeting. That there’s more. That I’m waiting for something to happen. If this is it, fine.  But if it is a rehearsal, then I hope I’m prepared.