An Easy Mistake

I am sitting at a table but we are outside. It is night, but the lights all around are bright. In front of me is a boy. He is a reflection of his mother and father. His father’s skin and mischievous smile. His mother’s eyes and the way his ears poke out. He is telling me things and I can’t help but listen with a smile.

To my right is a girl. She occasionally holds my hand and we are in love. She is the centerpiece of our table, both because she is undoubtedly beautiful but also because she is charismatic. In a way that is magnetic as it is natural. I was drawn to this about her, but also it makes me jealous. The others at the table love her and are grateful for the night.

All around us are the sounds of children – laughs, screams, cries. These sounds are echoes. Echoes where I try and find myself. Or at least an old relic of myself. The boy in front of me asks me if he can order a drink. He says his father lets him and that it’s okay. His brother, sitting to his left, rolls his eyes but smiles. I say it’s okay and when the waitress arrives, he orders, she looks at me, and I nod. She probably thinks he is my son. And that the girl next to me is his mother. An easy mistake to make, and all of us smile.

And so to is growing older. Letting time pass and change be okay. A mistake I make often. A mistake that is equal parts forgetting as it is convenient. Forgetting everything that once was, and forgetting everything that exists all around. An easy and convenient mistake, yes, but one worth noting never to make again.



-Remoy