Truths

I have wrinkles. Tiny lines that decorate my eyes and mouth when i smile and linger thereafter. The encroaching two thousand seventh year has me feeling a little behind. I recently came across a picture taken 5 christmas's ago of my cousins and I, 7 of us total. We looked young and beautiful. Myself with dark, wavy hair, looking very bohemian, Cari with very blonde hair, the only one staring directly into the camera, smiling, holding Juans hand. Joe and Shana, newly married and in love, laughing beautifully as lovers do. Jim, happy, the picture of masculinity, the guy you'd love to set your girlfriends up with. And Aaron, about to embark on his military carreer, high from the recent approval of his grandpa Art (a Veteran), with no idea that the next 5 years will take him to the other side of the country, by submarine. It's good to know that I'm not the only one aging. There's innocence in the picture. Complete naivete of lessons to come. Heartbreak, marriage, pregnancy, war. Common themes of adulthood.