I didn’t mean to and I hate myself for it, but I broke the Tweety glass. It was one of those tall drinking glasses, and this one is a vintage 1973 Tweety from the Pepsico collection. Every time I used it, I worried that I would break it. The more something is important to you, the more likely you’re overly gentle with it, but still the more likely that exactly what you don’t want to happen, happens. While all things Tweety are sentimental and valuable to me, this glass was in particular. It held another memory of us — memories that, I’m reminded once again, are finite.
It was summer 2016, after I moved to New York. I convinced you to go to the beach; specifically, the Jersey Shore because that’s what all “New Yorkers” do in the summertime. It was a typical summer weekend, and we were off to be as cliché as possible. Aside from the fact that your Irish heritage means you sunburn within 5 minutes and that you hate the beach, I was super excited to check out this Jersey Shore hype. We drove down to Ocean City, where your family often spent summer weekends, so actually, you enjoyed the boardwalk and the ocean, despite not owning a swimsuit. We got to the beach. It was extremely underwhelming. It was very crowded, the waves were brown, and the sand was rough. If I had to guess now, we probably sat on the beach for 30 minutes while you humored me from behind big sunglasses and a long sleeve shirt. I remember a photo I took of your whimsical expression telling me, “well, here we are, at the beach, just like you wanted.”
After that brief beach attempt, we left the coarse sands and walked along the boardwalk. You brought me to the toffee (or fudge?) shop, which was tasty. I remember buying an ugly, plain cap because it was just too sunny. I think it was pink. We then came across an antique store with all sorts of random items. It was a cluttered shop, with limited lighting. Among all the knick knacks, I saw this Tweety glassware. It was clearly vintage from the Tweety design. I remember debating with you whether I should buy it. It was like $15. As usual during my shopping dilemmas, you stood around and just agreed with whatever logic I said to convince myself whether or not to purchase it. In the end, I bought it. I was super happy to find this Tweety item in a random old shop on the boardwalk in Ocean City while spending a cliché summer beach day with my best friend. There could be no better item to store this memory.
