Memories come to me like old friends and enemies.

No dance parties to ring in the New Year of 2019. Those friends who are still living are having trouble walking, much less dancing. Memories come to me like old friends and enemies.

Before my first New Year's party as a young adult, when my sister saw that I had purchased my very first party dress, she whinged and wheedled until I let her borrow it. I had not yet worn the very expensive dress myself, and I knew no good would come to me for loaning it to her, but she said it would make her very, very happy so I let her take it. In retrospect I notice that neither she nor I thought of me going to her dance. My sister danced the night away and wore my pretty new dress to tatters. She brought it back to me in contemptuous triumph, dirty with mud and grass stains, smelly, and torn under the arms and at the hem. It looked as if she had worn it to rut in a field. I was speechless, but I began to understand that my sister would never be a safe person for me.

Caption: My Sister Danced The Night Away And Trashed My Pretty Blue Dress.

by Annmarie Throckmorton 2019