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Babies…When WE Were Babies

I really can’t wrap my head around this last week.
ba•by (bey-bee)
n.
1. an infant or very young child.
2. a newborn or very young animal.
3. the youngest member of a family, group, etc.
4. an immature or childish person.
5. a human fetus.
6. Informal .

a. Sometimes Disparaging and Offensive . a girl or woman, esp. an attractive one.
b. a person of whom one is deeply fond; sweetheart.
c. ( sometimes initial capital letter ) an affectionate or familiar address (sometimes offensive when used to strangers, casual acquaintances, subordinates, etc., esp. by a male to a female).
d. a man or boy; chap; fellow: He’s a tough baby to have to deal with.
e. an invention, creation, project, or the like that requires one’s special attention or expertise or of which one is especially proud. …
f. an object; thing: Is that car there your baby?

Thinking of a blog theme, over the last few weeks…months, it has been hard to hone in on specific thoughts, touch upon events as they progress. When a small thought came to my head today…or maybe last night, I thought that I’d run with it.

Babies…not in the thought of infants, or young children, but babies…what the older generation called us during college. Do you remember when you were that baby? I just have some rantings and thoughts…nothing really specific to any particular person, but those little moments that made you smile.

-Metro North trips to New York and Brooklyn from Connecticut.
-Smoking Black & Mild’s in the rain
-Standing behind two Seattle natives near Key Arena, ironically and respectively wearing Braves and Yankee baseball caps
-The night at the Red Dragon in Minneapolis
-Standing on the roof of the Fort below Golden Gate Bridge
-That night at Club Kaya on stage
-Looking you in the face, and wanting to go away with you that instant…but not doing it
-That day in the sun, when something that simple could be so happy to you at Peachtree Center
-That day I jumped out the window at Seeley
-Walking home from Trumbull
-Night trips to Bennigan’s in Milford
-My birthday at the Motown Café
-The Bentley Hotel in New York
-(Surprised I’m saying this) Watching (DM)X-Men in Tallahassee and quoting DMX to make that bad movie go along
-Club Jaguars
-Walking through the Bridgeport snow storm in a hoodie, basketball shorts, and canvas sneaks…regularly.
-Making soup from scratch
-Waking up half dressed in my bed, and a friend sitting on the end of my bed reading the Source or Vibe magazine, because my dad let him in.
-Not having a cell phone, or internet access.
-Trooping on the bus and train.
-Renting my first car, and wanting to leave in time square.
-Crooked I’s fruit drinks.
-My AJ 12’s and your Foamposites
-Having a stalker advisor.
-Playing Mortal Kombat, although I favored Street Fighter.
-The day we spent in the shadow of the Twin Towers.
-That time at Grand Central Station.
-ALL my fly clothes from New York…that I wore in GA!!!
-My boots.
-Frappuccino’s as a diet, and not gaining weight because I was so broke, that was my meal for the day.
-FYE at Trumbull mall.
-Listening to Future Flavors on Hot97.
-That Bad Boy mixtape…y’all know which one!!!
-Norfolk State Homecoming, and watching the Braves win the series over a steak.
-You braiding my hair, and my ass hurting from sitting through ALL 3 NFL games.
-NY Giants as the local team.
-The rude Bridgeport squirrels.
-Seeing you everyday.
-Freaknic.
-My grandfather picking me up from school and buying me White Castle.
-DJ Clue mixtapes.
-NFL Gameday on Playstation…remember the lightning when you made a big hit?!?!?
-Famous Pizza, and getting daiquiris.
-Seaside Park.
-Going to Yale’s campus, it was unbelievably beautiful.
-That Labor Day with my cousins in New Haven.
-Easter in Cheshire.
-The holiday plane ride home, with everything I owned in my seat.
-When I thought you didn’t remember me, and you said ‘Hi.’
-That night in the cold at the Warehouse waiting for ODB…and I just wore a polo because I was used to the temperature.
-THAT specific Freaknic weekend.
-Your smile (boy that applies to a whole bunch of people).
-That night in Buckhead after we FINALLY got back from California.
-That roadtrip, the best ever, Minneapolis, Fargo, Spokane, Seattle, San Francisco, research in Sacramento (I could tell you could care less), Walnut Creek, Los Angeles (you ended up getting a job), getting searched outside El Paso, and the air conditioning not being worth a crap in Texas, San Antonio and the river walk, and then wanting to get my ass home.
-That first apartment.
-Our stupid fight with real Japanese swords, glad we didn’t kill ourselves.
-My “Real World” entry tape.
-Your “Real World” house.
-That day outside your apartment…
-That shirt on Christmas.
-Those flowers.
-That party that I missed.
-Your braids.
-Your cousin giving me the ill NY style braids in about 45 minutes.
-Walking through New York, and everything was closed.
-That look in your eyes.
-NYU and Washington Park, and me scheming during the school visit.
-Cabaret
-Klassic Klymaxx, and paying for part of that damn show out of my pocket.
-Coming by Bodine after I had left the school.
-All those phone calls (some things never stop).
-Taping Ralph McDaniel’s Hip Hop show.
-Rootsman, and Curry Goat with Salad on it!!!
-Roti and Currants Roll from Brooklyn.
-Bubble goose coats, and my Ruff Wear Jeans.
-Your ¾ bubble coat that was bigger than your entire body.
-Late nights, STILL listening to 88.5 like we did in High School.
-Midnight sales at Tower Records to get the new albums.
-My girl Myla Windham, damn the 3 of us used to have the best Hip-Hop and music talks. Now you can have those talks with Biggie…lol.
-Backpacking it to Tower to see The Roots, Outkast (we were on BET, lol), skip Jay-Z (well we were in the store). Or even Tower as our meeting spot.
-Your Aunt’s Haitian black rice.
-Jazz and Earwax Records, remember ALL the promo stuff we would get (Cold War remix feat D’Angelo).
-Those bags full of clothes we lugged back to Bridgeport.
-When you went off on the girl who lied on my…
-Rufus.
-Your Oreo stash that your family would send you.
-Chillin’ at your Mom’s before we got on the road, and all of a sudden it got cold as $h!t in Minnesota in July.
-UCLA, OMG UCLA!!!
-AND BERKELEY, OMG BERKELEY!!!
-Silver Lake.
-You getting lost going back to Berkeley when we had it lined up…you not realizing that all those damn main streets in LA run parallel to each other.
-Danny Trejo at Venice, which you don’t freakin remember.
-Me scheming on LA from GA transplant Lala La Latina, and you getting us there late…sorry, had to.
-The Hot 97 (Atlanta) and Organized Noise Halloween party…bad things man, bad things.
-The Atlanta Wu-Wear store.
-Everybody going crazy over the Fugeez “The Score,” album.
-That day I tried to talk to you in your car.
-How much I hated that busted Bridgeport Metro North/Amtrak station.
-How Bridgeport literally closed at 6pm.
-You coming to visit, and then all of us going to your aunt’s in Queens, that was a very cool day.
-That day you cooked for me, and I didn’t…
-That day you and I met, and we knew we’d be cool forever. Maaaan we have gone through and seen some things. (1 baby, 2 babies, LOL).
-Me thinking you were Rico Wade initially.
-Using my manuscript as a way to kick game.
-Getting a car, then giving everybody rides.
-Our Hip-Hop / Fashion show…boy a lot of drama came in the aftermath of that.
-Our double bunk beds.
-That Valentine’s Day, when she kept knocking on your door.
-OMG, almost forgot…SPADES!!!
-BSA.
-Corned beef hash, and us all getting together to make dinner.
-That diner that all you UB veterans loved going to.
-That day you got mad at me, and everybody but the 2 of us could see what it was.
-Escaping UB to go get cheese crust pizza at Pizza Hut.
-T.G.I.Friday’s in Times Square and Keith Murray walked in.
-That restaurant we went to, across from the Bentley, when the windows were opened, and we ate and drank, and it rained.
-Virgin Megastore.
-At Chevy’s (ATLiens it was exactly Rio Bravo) when my aunt had one too many sangrias.
-Skin.
-Your lips.

The manuscript Blue Lines is a fictional period piece, written by Kenneth Anthony Suffern, Jr., that takes place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.