TODAY'S A FUTURE MEMORY

On turning 29 and the memories you're already nostalgic for

It’s a Saturday evening in April.

My close friend and former roommate, Rishi, and I are on the stoop of my Brooklyn apartment, dressed in suits, getting a breather from the party inside.

“Bro, remember when it used to be so easy to see everyone? We’d debrief in the living room after a date, or just hit up a friend for a spontaneous walk in Domino Park.” I notice a few more flecks of gray in his hair since I last saw him a few months ago.

“I miss those days too,” he replies. “Okay, maybe not the dating in NYC part, but being able to see everyone easily. Now everyone’s got a wedding coming up. A kid on the way. Half of us don’t even live in NYC anymore. Me included.”

He’s quiet for a moment.

“Remember your 29th birthday? When we turned our Williamsburg apartment into a listening bar, invited the boys, and dressed up as salarymen.”

“That was more than a decade ago haha. I remember our apartment smelled like McDonald’s and whisky. Max was spinning jazz and soul on the kitchen island.”

“My favorite line from you that night: I think this is the best thing anyone has ever cooked in our kitchen.“ We both laugh.

“I remember sitting on the couch that evening, looking around the room, and I told myself: embrace the era that you’re in, because today’s a future memory.”

He smiles, “Bro, you should write about that.”

“Pretty sure I wrote about it eleven years ago.”

“Of course you did.”

Just then, the front door opens. One of my friends calls me inside.

I follow him in.

I hear them before I see it, everyone singing happy birthday. A Berry Napoleon cake from Martha’s Bakery sits on the table. One candle reading 4, another reading 0.

I look around the room. Friends and family from different eras of my life. It’s a chilly spring evening but the room is warm.

I blow out the candles and make a wish.

Embrace the era that you’re in, because today’s a future memory. A phrase I first thought of on my 29th birthday, 11 years ago. Now, I’m standing inside that future, on a day that will itself become a memory.