March 31, 2003

Pop quiz

When was the best christmas ever?

One year I spent it in the hospital. Asthmatic Bronchitis; I had it throughout childhood and had to be rushed to the hospital by my dad in the middle of the night sometimes to get adrenaline shots so that I wouldn't slip into a coma or something in my sleep.

I was young, and I remember how they called me on Christmas and told me what everybody had gotten. I am sure that they actually came by later, but I don't remember that part. I only remember talking on the phone and hearing that we had all gotten a tape recorder, and I was genuinely happy for us. We would later use it to record a variety of sounds, most of which revolved around the bathroom simply because our side of the duplex was very small and the bathroom was the centerpiece. We recorded Dad taking a shower, talking to himself in the mirror; we may have even caught that time he punched the mirror and shattered the glass on tape. He came out bleeding and feeling stupid, but still angry at his imagined boss, who he was constructing a future conversation with just moments earlier in our personal recording studio.

It must have been hard for my parents to manage; with a child in the hospital they couldn't both go either place so they split up. They also had to make sure that I got presents so that I wouldn't remember it badly; as if the shots and food weren't bad enough. They had to be apart Christmas morning, but they pulled it all off, and we were happy.

March 31, 2003 10:40 AM