Memory Documentation

chapter five | documenting the moments of a memory

While brushing my teeth, I stepped into my room to check my phone, only to find a text from Chris that said nothing more than a winky face.

"I'm going to slap and hug you," I replied back, to which he replied a few minutes later with another winky face and, "Catch up with you two later. Have fun!"

His text left another goofy grin on my face as I went on a hunt for any hair ties laying around. I growled to myself. Damn! I really need to start putting them in a fixed spot so I don't have to go on a treasure hunt for brown hair ties every time I need to do my hair. As I continued my search, I called out to Jessica in the living room. "Hey, Jess? I was wondering if you wanted to swing by the Brewing Café later to see Papa?"

"The Brewing Café?" asked Jessica, popping in. "The Brewing Café, where you got adopted and everything?"

"That's the one." I smiled. "Mr. Oxford gave us the café when we moved back from California. That old beauty is ours now."

"No way!" Jessica exclaimed, clasping her hands. "How crazy is it that it's yours now, knowing it holds so many special memories?"

There's not a single time where I forget to recognize and appreciate all that that café has given me. It's housed more special memories than I could probably remember, but I know there's been a lot. It's like visiting an old castle or battlefield; you feel the essence of what used to be and what's been done.

I finally was able to find a lone hair tie laying camouflaged on top of a black spiral notebook. When I started to pull my hair back into its usual braid, Jessica stepped in and offered to braid it for me. I released my hold and let her take over. She giggled a bit as she worked and said, "Even as a teenager you like to keep it long. I remember, when you were little, it used to touch the floor when you sat down."

"At this point, it's just my default to keep it long. I've always liked it this way, but the length it's at right now is ridiculous."

"Maybe you can cut it for the new year?" she suggested. "I can recommend a hair stylist, too, if you'd like. This could be part of your whole 'new year, new me.'"

"Yeah, maybe," I mused, genuinely putting some thought into it. I've kept my hair long for as long as I could remember. Even when it's styled into a braid, my hair could nearly reach my belly button. With all the change in my life right now, why not get my hair cut, just for the hell of it? Maybe that change in my life would be good for me, too.

Jessica finished off her work, brought the braid over my shoulder, and smiled at me through the mirror. "What do you think?"

My mouth drifted open in awe. I've always done my braids into a neat french braid because it's the only one I was capable of doing, but Jessica had pulled at the strands so that it looked fuller and slightly messy. I was living my Elsa hair fantasy. "This looks amazing! I can't do anything other than a normal french braid, no matter how many times I practice."

Grinning, she stepped to the side to admire her look from a different angle. "It looks perfect. This is a popular hairstyle with some of the models I work with during shoots," she informed me.

"Shoots?"

"You didn't think I stopped being a photographer, did you?" Jessica asked teasingly, looping her arm with mine as we made our way out of my apartment. She still walked with a certain skip in her step, as if she were really walking on sunshine. Her bright smile expressed the full rapture she had for her job as she explained, "You're looking at a professional photographer at Studio Days, who often does shoots for Bride's Mind Magazine and other bridal magazines."

Jessica and I settled on eating lunch at a local Italian place. On our cab ride there, Jessica handed me her phone, where she'd pulled up the website for Studio Days. At first glance, I was already impressed.