the birthday club

My mom, her friends, and I were all over at Auntie Sandi and Uncle Sam's house for cake and karaoke. Everyone was milling around and chatting when Uncle Sam comes into the room.

"Come, come!" he calls in Mandarin, "Let's look at pictures on the computer."

"You can't show those pictures!" Auntie Sandi exclaims. "Oh, he never deletes any pictures even the bad ones! That's what digital cameras are for: So you can delete the bad pictures and keep the good ones. But this one's stubborn like that. Some of those pictures aren't fit to show anyone!"

By now, everyone's chuckling. Auntie Sandi adds, "And then he goes and gets prints of all of them! Where am I going to PUT all these pictures?!"

So Uncle Sam retorts, "Give her three years! Then she'll think every picture is worth hanging on to!"

Some other auntie agrees, "Yeah, we're only getting older. When we look at pictures from ten years ago, we seem so young."

"Sam said THREE years, not ten!"



These are my Florida aunties and uncles. Potlucks with them and their kids used to be the highlights of every year. We, kids, used to eat in one room while they ate in the other room, and whenever conversation would crescendo and turn into a roar of laughter, we knew they were talking about us. Swapping stories about their children.

Now the kids are working and studying all around the country, and we rarely come home and never all together. It's been beautiful to watch the change in my aunties and uncles, who once used to be so children-centered. Now, they're pursuing their own hobbies like singing and ballroom dancing, and getting together more often to enjoy each others' company. When I was younger, I thought the aunties dressed, well, like moms, but now, they've become quite fashionable! Annie Dillard has a perfect line about age and beauty, but I'll have to dig it up when I get back to my books. But anyway, it's been a treat seeing my aunties and uncles again. They glow with the pride and love they have for all of us children.