oddly specific things to re-live, because nostalgia tugs on my hair like a forlorn dream.

• teriyaki chicken & cabbage & rice in a takeout box at the mall
• subway as a makeshift late dinner — just dad, my sister, and i
• strawberry rhubarb pie with our neighbors; sitting outside in the ripening sunset, sharing slices & smiling.
• ice cream socials at my old elementary school. musical chairs, bingo, overcrowded cafeterias & cake exchanges…
• trip to seattle again: the museum playground, the snail tower, we are grapes in the elevator.
• watch ponyo again.
• go shopping with mom after piano lessons — i don’t do piano anymore.
  • we’d stop by the asian supermarket, she’d get soft tofu & squashes & broccoli, i’d snatch 3 packs of pocky & 2 breadstick chocolate dips (one for me, one for my sister), we’d both pick bread loafs (my favorites were 肉松 & red bean) and egg tarts.
  • then, to stop & shop, for the apples & corn & sweet potatoes (i’d steal a bundle of green twist bag-sealers every time).
  • and then the local market — we’d be close to home then, i remembered by the railroad crossings — and i’d get the chocolate croissants while she ordered ham (“honey glazed,” i’d tell her to get, “it’s better than honey roasted.” what was the difference? i didn’t know).