Better late than never? (Birthdays and Dérives)

For reasons too numerous to mention, it has been an overwhelming couple of weeks. I fear I have been delinquent following up on some threads started a few posts ago, namely that of Clifford’s birthday and my Spartanburg dérive.

I think the best way to resolve this at this point (almost two weeks late in the case of the latter event), is to throw up some largely uncaptioned pictures, save a few introductory paragraphs. Feel free to create your own narratives.

Dérive:

The dérive pictures were all taken on my camera phone, which was not at first planned, but ended up being more appropriate. They are all of what seemed to be fleeting details; I rarely stopped for more than a few moments to capture them. I walked for about three and a half hours, which may not sound like much, but was an accomplishment considering the heat. Sunday proved an interesting day to dérive as, in most of the areas I was walking through, I could hear the frenzied call and response emanating from the neighborhood churches. Those who were not at church sat out on their porches, reading the paper, watching the street. Most people were friendly.

The hardest part was trying to create my path based on a true emotional response as opposed to a cognitive recognition of the places people have told us not to go. I think I did fairly well to that effect, though there were some moments when I let uninformed fear make the decision. People might say this is idealistic, but I think that everyone should, at some point, walk through the neighborhoods in their city where people tell them not to walk. It is an exercise in tolerance. I think they might be surprised.

(Click on thumbs to enlarge.)

Cliff’s birthday:

So Cliff has this new idea. Over lunch at Tupelo Honey in Asheville, and in between about a half a dozen birthday calls, Cliff decided he didn’t really like his birthday that much. Too much attention. Too much disappointment. He didn’t really want a day all to himself. I told him that we all like him, and that we enjoy a day for him. From this conversation, came an idea that he hopes to put into effect from this birthday forward. Every year, he is going to pick a friend of his and give his birthday to them. Then the two of them will proceed to do whatever it is that the friend wants to do.  Quite frankly, I think it is even more ego-maniacal to “give your birthday to the world,” so to speak, but Cliff counters that if you’re going to be an egomaniac you might as well do so on your birthday, and I must admit he has a point. From then on, his phone conversations went a little something like this: “Hello?…Thank you…Well, listen, I just want you to have a great day today, that’s the best thing you can do for me on my birthday…uh-huh…Ok, bye.”

And, finally, one that really deserves a caption:

Thanks to Derya and Rachel for the preparation of this cake! For those that can’t tell, there are sharks, pink flamingos, and several colors of frosting on Barbie’s skirt. Magic. I’m sure it tasted great, though we were all too grossed out to eat it.