Today was my first real shift as a server (earning tips and all), but I'm not going to talk about that now. Instead, I want to relay some thoughts I had over this past weekend at my brother's bar-mitzvah. As an aside, I had a great time, seeing my family and spending time with my siblings and cousins.

Every time I go back to my Dad's and/or go to family events, I find myself living in the shadow of who I used to be . By that, I mean that my family and my father's friends can't seem to separate their memories of me as a child/young adult from the man I am today. On some level, it's nice to be reminded of my past and to revisit fond memories with friends and loved ones. At the same time, I lost track of the number of times my conversations began with "I remember when you were only this big, this old, etc . . . " this weekend. There was a point where I seriously (albeit largely due to alcohol) wanted to shove a fork in one guy's eye. He wouldn't let me walk away from him until I assured him that I remembered a particular time when we had had some interaction when I was 'only as high as his knee'.

Great . . .