The greatest hits

I want you to remember the first kiss you ever had.
I was rummaging through my little black bag where all sorts of memorabilia are stored. It got me thinking of the firsts, the stories and the fun times.
The first item was a tiny red singlet. When I tried it on again it looked like one of Chicky’s.

I got into it, but it took an hour of laughing to get back out of it. That was my first Mardi Gras outfit. An amazing night.
When our lips met, I knew that was that…
Next I found some love notes and cards, some silly and sweet with large love hearts painted all over the insides, others sentimental and dear.  All of them brought their owners’ faces to me. I kissed their faces as I put them back in the bag.
A very glittery and slightly worn stiletto protruded from the zip. My first DIVA night dressed up in wig, lashes and a tonne of face paint. I clipped on an earring while I continued looking through the bag.
My long-sleeved T-shirt that I wore to both of my sons’ births was folded neatly. I lifted it up and put it to my face and I could remember the births and the speed in which everything happened. The white noise of the doctors and nurses faded when the boys came out crying their first breaths.
I stood stilettoed, one earring dangling, encased in a tiny Mardi Gras singlet holding that precious piece of clothing in one hand.

In the other was Buzz Lightyear with a faint dark blood spot on his arm from accompanying Beau to have his tonsils removed. The warrior stayed with his boy and took a splatter. I put Buzz back into the bag gently.
The neighbours must have heard me squeal at the sight of my first dance party shorty shorts. White jeans decimated into tiny shorts with large holes ripped out in all the wrong places. They got worse that night — it had rained, they got wet and when I ascended the podium (I just couldn’t get enough of the stage back then) they ripped mid-centre leg up to the waist. They are the hottest and most fun item I own.
I squeezed into them with the rest of the misfit items. The ensemble of love, losses, life and lessons was one crazy sight in the mirror before me.
I smiled and, before pulling the front door closed to go meet some friends, I put them all back in the bag, leaving room for more.