13 November 2006

a thousand tiny disco lights



the best kind of box is the kind that is filled with things from your childhood. even better if you've not looked at the contents for years and years. best if you have no idea of what might be inside.



my parents came to visit this past weekend and just before they left to go back home, they unloaded two enormous plastic bins from their car. my dad set them both down with a thud and I could see hints of sequins, old drawings and record albums inside. ava and me, we dug right in. I couldn't pull things out fast enough. no more than five minutes had passed and there we were, knee deep in my childhood. we sat together in a pile of tiny baby dresses, wrinkled dance costumes and letters from old boyfriends. we pulled out rainbow stickers, stickers that read, 'barf me out' and 'gag me with a spoon' and 45s like 'pass the dutchie', 'the tide is high' and 'double dutch bus'. there were the nesting dolls that my dad brought me back from russia, the party book I bought with my own money in first grade and studied from cover to cover, the black fingerless gloves I wore to prom, and a broken rhinestone crown that my mother once wore as may queen. but what I loved looking through the most were the drawings and paintings and stories I'd written. I wanted to go back to that place where I was so free with color, so uninhibited with line and shape. genuinely authentic and alive, just like ava.



she's been trying on the costumes since yesterday afternoon but the clear hit was the bright pink one with all the sequins and fringe. I never actually wore it on stage. I think my mom picked it up at a yard sale for a quarter. always my favorite, it is as spectacular as I remember-- unapologetically pink with sequins that sparkle like a thousand tiny disco lights and fringe that screams 'shake me shake me shake me'.

so, we've been doing some shaking. and twisting and jumping and twirling and kicking. and although I have a million things to do before I leave for new york, I've been doing a lot of sitting around and remembering.

12 comments:

  1. you always post the most amazing action shots, i love this blur of pink and light with little ava moves. i feel like i was right there with you looking through those boxes. you are right, finding boxes like that are the BEST.

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  2. ... just had to run to Flickr to favourite that last photo. How I adore the colour and vibrancy of your world! Looking through boxes of memories is so much fun.

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  3. hey grrl...love these dancing shots of your sparkly little one.

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  4. Pass the Dutchie--awesome. My gloves had fingers and went to the elbow. I had the hose with the seam down the center for that prom too. My kid dance costume was kinda similar. It was just a strapless leotard with sequin madness just on the front and it was orange, which looked horrible on me, but looked great on my best friend who's from El Salvador. I'd deck out in black chiffon stuff and she'd wear the sequins and we'd boogie to MJ's Off the Wall.

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  5. andrea, these are wonderful photos. I love the movement and the joy in them... and the best stories ever.
    Thanks!`

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  6. just fabulous! ava is a rock star. and finding that little time capsul of yours must have been like christmas.

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  7. Another slice of magic from your world :)
    What I would give to have two big bins of childhood left but, alas, I will live vicariously through yours!

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  8. You take the greatest pictures! I love that you can share your childhood with your child. That must blow your mind on some level to see her trying on things you wore as a kid! Very cool.
    I am glad to hear that you are going to NY. I still remember a post you wrote when you were having a bad day where you fantasized about going to see your brother and taking a few dance classes...

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  9. ahhh... memories... like the corners of my mind... [stop me now]

    GREAT photos. i want to hang w/ you and ava. all the time. please????

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  10. What a fabulous post. I love the photos of Ava ~ such movement and beauty. She must adore those costumes because they were yours. Safe travels tomorrow mama!

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  11. a little trip down memorylane and some moments for ava to be able to pull out of box later.

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