Before I knew about
multiples I leaned against the wall in the pasty
sea-green bathroom at Garfield Elementary and I thought about my
seventh birthday (impending) and the importance of a number like
seven. I thought about myself at
fourteen, at
twenty-one, at
twenty-eight and
thirty-five; numerology was not lost on me, even then, and that was before I saw all those
seven up movies.
Every birthday now I think about
what I would have expected from myself when I was younger. I've failed most specatularly, especially in the area of height; I'm only
5'4" - I haven't grown and inch since I was
fourteen, and when I got that old, I looked myself over in the mirror, thinking how my
reflection only vaguely matched all the
images I spun for myself at the age of seven.