Chardonnay cosplay, dressing as ourselves
Minus half again in numbered years
An anxious encounter with these years we rushed to outpace
Forgetting, stashing away, downplaying
Who will be first to risk reliving it all for the sake of entertainment?
We are more than that now
We have come honestly
By the added pounds, visible wrinkles, greying hair
We laugh, tentatively, then welcoming the distractions
From today’s more pressing concerns:
Marriages
Births
Deaths
Gains and losses
We, who knew each other when,
Can breathe into this exercise of remembering
Adolescent armor has given way
As adults, we fight too much awareness
Are we better now at taking each day as it comes?
We can give ourselves the promise of future nostalgia
When we’ve doubled again our numbered years,
What will we laugh about? Bad outfits? Cute-hot-cute Kyle? Feigned (or real) rebellion?
If we’re lucky, we’ll laugh about
All of the years that have accumulated and
How great it is
To have lived
caroline ridgway 