The Piñata

Last night during a friend’s birthday dinner, I had two reminders of the past. One was noticing a group of 16-year-old-ish teenage girls dressed to the nine’s gather in a group for what looked like a professional photo shoot. The second was a birthday piñata. As we sat as a group of old friends at the table, we watched the teens across from us gather for pictures. My friend Kim’s boyfriend said from across the table, “Yeah guys, this has been going on for 15 minutes...”. We all turned sharply to see a gaggle of girls morphing to switch from pose after pose because just one photo isn’t enough for Snapchat...or whatever the kids are doing these days as Kim would say. The word enamored comes to mind as we sat there caught up in their moment and pondered, “was that us when we were their age 15 years ago?” (That hurt a little bit to type...ugh). In short answer, yes, but with kodak disposable cameras that we would only be able to take one photo on, hope for the best, and have to conserve our photo-taking with only, what was it 20 or so photos available to take on a roll. No one would have been drawn in to watch that in 2002. We were more particular and intentional about our poses versus being prolific with an infinite camera roll connected to the cloud. We used to line the table at parties with disposable cameras that people would reach for every so often, but for the most part even though we were caught up in the same types of drama, we didn’t document it. We were focused on the interactions we had in reality. From our table now, we talked about our culture of our age having no limits, that we expect to have a maximum threshold on the intake of ideas, images, videos, and tweets to capture a memory. We chose to be in the moment.

What broke debate on how we have one foot in the millennial digital-mindset and one foot in the pre-apps era was the birthday girl’s dessert her husband got for the table: a giant chocolate pinata hanging like an ornament on a metal tree stand. She channeled the inner child as she hoisted the baton up and embraced the opportunity to transport from the dinner table to a backyard full of anticipation and excitement. What could be inside? How many hits will it take to break open and reveal the hidden treasures within? We were equally enchanted and taken back with her as we saw the glimmer in her eye as she squared with the chocolate target. Her smile was uninhibited and beautiful; an encouraging reminder that it’s okay to show this side of ourselves as an adult. She was liberal in her swing at first until the chants around her built to a roar of “Hit it!” “Smash it open!” A crowd of 30-somethings were equally as transported back to childhood pinata parties as she was. Just as the ones made out of straw and paper mache that could hang from trees, this one collapsed with a few mighty swings, and surrendered to the might of the birthday girl. Rather than kids sprawling forward onto their knees in a grassy yard to pick up candy treats, we launched forward from our seats with eager forks ready to pile on our plates the strawberries, pineapples, and churros dragged through whipped cream, Mexican chocolate, and spicy caramel sauce. As I readied my plate, I looked back at the table of teenagers, and again at our dessert, eyed my friends, and was savored our youth in this happy adult life. I am guilty, though, of documenting this for social media out of habit, but I think I would have grabbed that disposable Kodak from the table anyway to grab this one unique moment that means so much more than what was captured on camera.

Happy birthday, Diana!