Memories

Life is full of stories or moments that we will remember forever. Whether these moments are something we will remember forever, or something we had the opportunity to see, life is full of moments that have made up our life.

During spring break of my senior year, I went on vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. We spent our days touring the downtown parts of Charleston, walking the shoreline at the beach, and one day we went to Fort Sumter. If you have never read about the Battle of Fort Sumter, it was the battle that started the Civil War. We also went to Patriots Point Naval Museum, where we toured the USS Yorktown, a Naval Aircraft carrier ship; used in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and used as a recovery ship of the Apollo 8 Space mission. 

Now I remember going on this trip for three reasons. One was because it was pretty recent, two was because of the historical pieces we visited, and three was because of this. When we were touring parts of Charleston in the city, going from park to park, we came across a man dressed up in a pirate costume. “Oh great, some weird street performer,” I thought to myself as my mom told us to walk closer. The man had parrots and was allowing people to hold them while he was playing pirate… Hesitant to walk up, I followed behind my younger siblings while holding my girlfriend Caylee’s hand thinking about how this guy is going to pickpocket us while we were holding/playing with his parrot. (You have to agree pickpocketing would be the pirate thing to do. Have you ever seen Jack Sparrow steal from people in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, he's good at it!) 

After walking up he asked me if I wanted to hold the parrot. “Why me? My younger siblings were up to you first. Why would I want to hold the nasty bird?” Those were my exact thoughts until my mom tells the man “He would love to”. I couldn’t back out of holding the bird now, not with everyone expecting me to. So, I ask the man what to do and he tells me I hold out my arm and if I want the bird in my hand, I should open up my hand like I'm going to slap someone. As soon as that bird was in my hands I was freaking out, not because I was scared of the bird, but because he kept looking at me funny. I realized pretty quickly the bird was staring at my necklaces. I was wearing a stainless-steel chain, and a camo paracord necklace that has an Aluminum Goose band on it, and this bird was pecking at both of them. “He's trying to steal your jewelry, that's why he’s with a pirate,” said the man. Awkwardly laughing I tell the man I am done holding the parrot and he can take him back when all of a sudden, the bird bites my finger. 

Two thoughts came into my mind. I either act like a 5-year-old in front of my family and girlfriend about being bitten or throw the bird up in the air and tell that man he needs to teach the thing not to bite. I acted like a five-year-old. Even after the parrot bit my hand, Caylee, my brother, and my sister still held the parrot. I'm not sure what each of them remember most from that trip, but I know I will forever remember the time I was bitten by a parrot.

The best thing about memories is that they’re genuine stories. We didn’t manufacture them by setting up certain things to happen a certain way. Memories are a great thing to share to teach people about things, or to, hopefully, entertain people.  

“Sometimes you will never remember the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory” - Dr. Suess

                                                                                                    Anthony Taylor