✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Holding on to communal living

michigandaily.com · 1,673 words · saved by 1 readers

In middle school, I missed the death of Rio, my betta fish, because I was at a sleepover. My dad broke the news to me as we sat in the car outside of my friend’s house the next morning. I surprised him by shedding a tear (the death was long coming), yet I remember feeling a sense of guilt for not being there when Rio finally succumbed to the fin rot that had been plaguing him for months. By contrast, I also felt guilty for not actually feeling regret for sleeping at my friend’s house while Rio passed on into the next world. That was the moment I discovered the power of the sleepover. In elementary school, early October was when my best friend would send out her annual slumber party invitations in the mail. Needless to say, October was my favorite month of the year. I distinctly remember one year’s pink-and-green, spa-themed birthday card tacked to the front of the kitchen fridge and the anticipation of counting down the days to the big night. Year to year, activities changed from baski

In middle school, I missed the death of Rio, my betta fish, because I was at a sleepover. My dad broke the news to me as we sat in the car outside of my friend’s house the next morning. I surprised him by shedding a tear (the death was long coming), yet I remember feeling a sense of guilt for not being there when Rio finally succumbed to the fin rot that had been plaguing him for months. By contrast, I also felt guilty for not actually feeling regret for sleeping at my friend’s house while Rio passed on into the next world. That was the moment I discovered the power of the sleepover. In elemen

Explore this link on the map →

related reading