When I was young
When I was young I lived here. I spent most of my time outside playing games in the cul de sac and participating in some version of sharks and minnows in the pool. Our neighborhood was filled with kids our age and life seemed limitless. There was a hill over there, that we weren't allowed to go up, but we did anyway. I'd sit in these oversized gutters that were always bone-dry, with my legs spread open wide as I overlooked our street: It was familiar and I felt safe. It was mine and it was my friends'--our little corner of the world. I met Andrea when I was three years old. She came to the front door, flapping her hands like a bird and asked my mom if she would let me play outside with her. Together we made Indian reservations on her slope, recorded an improv cd that we still play to this day, prank called my mom pretending to be aliens, made crazy recipes because we were in love with boys, and drew maps of made up places. We occupied this intellectual, strange, ...