Great read!!! When I read your stories Michael I feel my past soaring in front of me like a runaway train. I too was the stoner in high school (of course I thought everyone was). And - Vandalizing our neighbors property released a lot of rage that I couldn’t safely express at home- but that took years to identify. Also, bonsai trees are harder than f —- to maintain. So be kind to yourself, ok! One of the many ways I made money as an artist was designing gardens. And I haven’t killed many plants- but I did kill that bonsai- the worst of it was it belonged to my dead daddy! I also love that your friendships have grown with you- that is beautiful. Have a lovely weekend.
I appreciate that so much. It is always a hope of mine that others will be able to relate their own experiences to whatever story and I’m sharing — and so, I’m thrilled that this piece resonated in that way for you.
Yes, those were most certainly the days!
And thank you, I did think that bonsai was quite quick to die haha — the temperamental things! :)
Fun read! Takes me back in time to my own adolescence.
“Michael hasn’t been in enough classes for us to give him a grade." ---LOL. I can relate. When I turned 18 my senior year, I finagled a way to write my own absence notes. Needless to say, I "overused" my absences so flagrantly that I got detention for forging my own notes. LOL.
This was a perfect blend of wistful and self-deprecating. A sentence like
“And with astronomical efficiency we rose through the ranks of teenage delinquency to become meteoric fuck ups of the highest order.”
cracks me up, but yet it doesn’t hide the sincere warmth and affection for these times and these people. This amused me and entertained me while still moving me—all simultaneously. Great stuff.
But my favorite part was the ending. That’s true because it executes a perfect twist on your almost poetic ode to Azzy’s gift and the friendship it stood for, but also because it was so relatable.
Every plant I’ve been given has died except one: this purple flowered thing. Unlike every predecessor, it has endured for years. I couldn’t recall watering it even once, but it lives! It’s a marvel. It’s proof of my growth and
Nope. I discovered in December it’s plastic.
Which is to say: right there with you on the plants.
Thank you Michael. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. And I’m very happy to hear that the blend of sincere nostalgia mixed well with the self-deprecating humour — this was a fun one to write, while also tugging on the old heart strings.
Also, you discovering the plant was plastic is amazing! That’s so funny. And yes, those damn house plants do seem unreasonable hard to keep alive haha :)
In highschool friends and the wayward experiences with them were my world. lots of choices that made adulthood more challenging but overcame them in time. nothing beats those connections and moments though, no regrets!
You made me think back to my angry days. My runaways from home. My father's furious piss-ups. Working in bars for a few bucks a month. Sleeping on a garage floor that smelled like the bottom of a fucking swamp. The girls who wanted to be loved and me having no idea how to love a girl. And you made me remember the day I found my best friend sleeping on the sofa in my granpa's house. He'd brought me home after a bit of a night out. I remember him saying to me "Mik, ya need to play D&D". So I started playing. I was 15. And I haven't stopped since. Fantastic piece, Michael. Fantastic.
I’m so glad my piece reminded you of your own youthful times, Michael.
There’s something so satisfying about knowing that others relate to my experience in their own way. It creates a connection I think I yearn to find through writing.
It sounds like you had some wild times as well, my friend, I’m glad you made it through. I think being able to look back on those times from a better place is such a gift — it’s one I’m very thank ful for. Thanks again Michael :)
Ha! Great story Michael. There’s a place in this world for the bright, creative humans who are “curious enough to question the rules, and mischievous enough to break them.” It’s tragic though how our systems aren’t built to work with these qualities, often throwing you to the streets to figure it out.
Thank you Kimberly. I really appreciate that. And, as always, you summed things up beautifully. I have often wondered what life would’ve been like if our systems did find a way to work with kids like me and my friends… 🤔 but at the same time, there is something intangibly satisfying about taking the path I did and managing to find a way through. :)
🤣🤣🤣 I forgot all about the bonsai, wrapped in the story and reminiscing about my own wayward days… to scroll upon the picture and TOTALLY GET IT. Lovely piece 🙏🏼
Ohh that’s so awesome, Joanna! That was my intention — introduce the bonsai, go on the wayward youth stories, and then at the end link them together — so I’m so glad that worked for you.
Hahaha thanks Camilla. It is quite amazing haha. And yes, I’m happy I did as well, after all, there are plenty more stories from those days to share :)
Brilliant! So fun to read - I am glad your crew still meets up despite your becoming functional adults. Love this line: “And with astronomical efficiency we rose through the ranks of teenage delinquency to become meteoric fuck ups of the highest order.”
I laughed at your closing & gave an audible “awww” for the pic of your dear bonsai plant. Don’t worry though, I think you might have to go through a few house plants gifts to get the actual “keep it alive” part down.
Thank you Robin. I’m so glad you liked the piece. And thank you for pointing out the lines you liked and parts you laughed at — it is always so wonderful hear which parts struck a chord with people.
And yes, I’m sure one of these days I’ll get the hang of keeping a house plant alive — that was my first go at it after all :)
Wow, Michael - so many parallels between our teen years, although somehow I managed to fly below the radar and finish high school and college (with a less than stellar GPA I might add.) Sorry about your bonsai, it could happen to the adultest of us. ;)
Great story telling of an amazing bond of friendship, enhanced by mind altering subtances! Love the fact that you have managed to kill the plant.... I was expecting you'd go with a mature ending of adulting - like maybe that you now run a successful Bonsai LSD business? Contrary to what you might guess about me after getting to know me as I have stalked you, sorry, I meant, subscribed to you for the last couple of years, I come from a wealthy family and went to high 'class' private English schools..... top notch education combined with extensive drug use.... still a fuck up who also kills house plants without mercy ha ha. (Sorry, the family disowned me, otherwise I'd be a paid stalker, sorry, subscriber)
Your comments always put a smile on my face, April!
I mean — “top notch education combined with extensive drug use.... still a fuck up who also kills house plants without mercy ha ha.” — I love this! It’s so perfect.
It’s also interesting to hear you came from high class private English schools, truth be told I’d never really given much thought to your background, all that seemed important (and why I think we get along so well) is that you ‘get’ me and I ‘get’ you.
Also, we’re not so different, after all — the first high school I went to (for years 8,9&10) was a prissy private catholic school my parents sent me to in the hopes that their ‘bright’ son would flourish academically, but when weed and skateboarding came into the picture that hope fell out the window, and so I moved to the derelict high school I mentioned in the story. And the rest, as they say, is history :)
Perfect! I feel like I've found my tribe! If I had any sense of balance I'd go and discover skateboarding. But mostly I recognise that I get on well with people who have an extensive vocabulary and still choose to say 'fuck' a lot.
You are what I call an honorary skateboarder in that you have the attitude and the heart you just don’t do it. And trust me after the age of like 25 doing it, is kinda rough anyway — it hurts too much!
YES! There have been people who’ve asked me, “why do you write or say fuck so much?”
And I honestly don’t even know how to answer them, like, if that is the question you’re asking me, then we just live in different worlds. Hahaha
Don't be too keen to be(come) adult ME ... I'm 70 years old now/soon and being young and foolish is my only redeeming feature ... Frank Sinatra sang "Don't you know that it's worth
every treasure on earth to be young at heart" ❤️ better replace the Bonsai though .. good karma
Yes yes, I agree whole-heartedly Emmett. Luckily for me, still going out and playing around on my childhood toy (my skateboard) seems to keep young at heart (even if it makes my joints ache like an old man haha).
Great read!!! When I read your stories Michael I feel my past soaring in front of me like a runaway train. I too was the stoner in high school (of course I thought everyone was). And - Vandalizing our neighbors property released a lot of rage that I couldn’t safely express at home- but that took years to identify. Also, bonsai trees are harder than f —- to maintain. So be kind to yourself, ok! One of the many ways I made money as an artist was designing gardens. And I haven’t killed many plants- but I did kill that bonsai- the worst of it was it belonged to my dead daddy! I also love that your friendships have grown with you- that is beautiful. Have a lovely weekend.
Thank you Andrea!
I appreciate that so much. It is always a hope of mine that others will be able to relate their own experiences to whatever story and I’m sharing — and so, I’m thrilled that this piece resonated in that way for you.
Yes, those were most certainly the days!
And thank you, I did think that bonsai was quite quick to die haha — the temperamental things! :)
Fun read! Takes me back in time to my own adolescence.
“Michael hasn’t been in enough classes for us to give him a grade." ---LOL. I can relate. When I turned 18 my senior year, I finagled a way to write my own absence notes. Needless to say, I "overused" my absences so flagrantly that I got detention for forging my own notes. LOL.
Thanks for the read.
I love these comments. I love knowing I wasn't the only juvenile delinquent here!
Hahaha same!
Forging your own absentee’s — that’s both amazingly devious and incredibly impressive!
So glad you enjoyed the piece and was able to relate to it!
And thanks for the restack as well!
I really appreciate it :)
This was a perfect blend of wistful and self-deprecating. A sentence like
“And with astronomical efficiency we rose through the ranks of teenage delinquency to become meteoric fuck ups of the highest order.”
cracks me up, but yet it doesn’t hide the sincere warmth and affection for these times and these people. This amused me and entertained me while still moving me—all simultaneously. Great stuff.
But my favorite part was the ending. That’s true because it executes a perfect twist on your almost poetic ode to Azzy’s gift and the friendship it stood for, but also because it was so relatable.
Every plant I’ve been given has died except one: this purple flowered thing. Unlike every predecessor, it has endured for years. I couldn’t recall watering it even once, but it lives! It’s a marvel. It’s proof of my growth and
Nope. I discovered in December it’s plastic.
Which is to say: right there with you on the plants.
ah ha...awesome..yes also love..meteoric fuck ups of the highest order!
Thank you Michael. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. And I’m very happy to hear that the blend of sincere nostalgia mixed well with the self-deprecating humour — this was a fun one to write, while also tugging on the old heart strings.
Also, you discovering the plant was plastic is amazing! That’s so funny. And yes, those damn house plants do seem unreasonable hard to keep alive haha :)
Great writing style & read!
In highschool friends and the wayward experiences with them were my world. lots of choices that made adulthood more challenging but overcame them in time. nothing beats those connections and moments though, no regrets!
Thank you Melissa. I really appreciate that!
Yes, totally. Back then, those moments with those people was everything!
I wouldn’t change it for the world. I am thankful to have made it through those times though. :)
Is there a greater gift than having a long-lasting friendship? It's harder to maintain than a bonsai, I think. But still, that poor thing :)
Love the sincerity and wit of this piece, Michael!
Great point — those long lasting friendships are way harder to maintain than a bonsai! Maybe I’m more grown up than I gave myself credit haha.
And thank you for the kind words on the writing Fotini. It is much appreciated. :)
You made me think back to my angry days. My runaways from home. My father's furious piss-ups. Working in bars for a few bucks a month. Sleeping on a garage floor that smelled like the bottom of a fucking swamp. The girls who wanted to be loved and me having no idea how to love a girl. And you made me remember the day I found my best friend sleeping on the sofa in my granpa's house. He'd brought me home after a bit of a night out. I remember him saying to me "Mik, ya need to play D&D". So I started playing. I was 15. And I haven't stopped since. Fantastic piece, Michael. Fantastic.
I’m so glad my piece reminded you of your own youthful times, Michael.
There’s something so satisfying about knowing that others relate to my experience in their own way. It creates a connection I think I yearn to find through writing.
It sounds like you had some wild times as well, my friend, I’m glad you made it through. I think being able to look back on those times from a better place is such a gift — it’s one I’m very thank ful for. Thanks again Michael :)
Thank to you for the windows you open to the past, bro!
Thanks bro! :)
Ha! Great story Michael. There’s a place in this world for the bright, creative humans who are “curious enough to question the rules, and mischievous enough to break them.” It’s tragic though how our systems aren’t built to work with these qualities, often throwing you to the streets to figure it out.
Thank you Kimberly. I really appreciate that. And, as always, you summed things up beautifully. I have often wondered what life would’ve been like if our systems did find a way to work with kids like me and my friends… 🤔 but at the same time, there is something intangibly satisfying about taking the path I did and managing to find a way through. :)
loved it, made me super pick-up-the-phone nostalgic. the bonsai would've met the same fate if it were me
Thanks Will! I’m glad you liked the piece.
Hahaha glad to hear it; people have been saying that bonsai’s aren’t that easy to keep alive, which is nice to know! :)
So funny both our latest posts had a picture of bonsai! Great nostalgic post about lifelong friendships we make. Loved reading this one Michael!
Hahaha that is a pretty strange coincidence! I guess, it’s like that say — great minds think alike ;)
Thanks Marmi! Im so glad you enjoyed it :)
🤣🤣🤣 I forgot all about the bonsai, wrapped in the story and reminiscing about my own wayward days… to scroll upon the picture and TOTALLY GET IT. Lovely piece 🙏🏼
Ohh that’s so awesome, Joanna! That was my intention — introduce the bonsai, go on the wayward youth stories, and then at the end link them together — so I’m so glad that worked for you.
Thanks for reading and the wonderful comment :)
it sounds amazing to me that you survived your youth😉 and I'm happy that you did and we get to read about it😁
Hahaha thanks Camilla. It is quite amazing haha. And yes, I’m happy I did as well, after all, there are plenty more stories from those days to share :)
Brilliant! So fun to read - I am glad your crew still meets up despite your becoming functional adults. Love this line: “And with astronomical efficiency we rose through the ranks of teenage delinquency to become meteoric fuck ups of the highest order.”
I laughed at your closing & gave an audible “awww” for the pic of your dear bonsai plant. Don’t worry though, I think you might have to go through a few house plants gifts to get the actual “keep it alive” part down.
Thank you Robin. I’m so glad you liked the piece. And thank you for pointing out the lines you liked and parts you laughed at — it is always so wonderful hear which parts struck a chord with people.
And yes, I’m sure one of these days I’ll get the hang of keeping a house plant alive — that was my first go at it after all :)
Wow, Michael - so many parallels between our teen years, although somehow I managed to fly below the radar and finish high school and college (with a less than stellar GPA I might add.) Sorry about your bonsai, it could happen to the adultest of us. ;)
I guess, it’s like they say, Troy — great minds think alike… even if though minds are teenage stoners ;)
Kudos to you for flying under the radar, I’m sure that would’ve been no easy feat.
Haha yeah, I’m not gonna lie, I got over the death of that plant pretty quickly haha :)
Great story telling of an amazing bond of friendship, enhanced by mind altering subtances! Love the fact that you have managed to kill the plant.... I was expecting you'd go with a mature ending of adulting - like maybe that you now run a successful Bonsai LSD business? Contrary to what you might guess about me after getting to know me as I have stalked you, sorry, I meant, subscribed to you for the last couple of years, I come from a wealthy family and went to high 'class' private English schools..... top notch education combined with extensive drug use.... still a fuck up who also kills house plants without mercy ha ha. (Sorry, the family disowned me, otherwise I'd be a paid stalker, sorry, subscriber)
Your comments always put a smile on my face, April!
I mean — “top notch education combined with extensive drug use.... still a fuck up who also kills house plants without mercy ha ha.” — I love this! It’s so perfect.
It’s also interesting to hear you came from high class private English schools, truth be told I’d never really given much thought to your background, all that seemed important (and why I think we get along so well) is that you ‘get’ me and I ‘get’ you.
Also, we’re not so different, after all — the first high school I went to (for years 8,9&10) was a prissy private catholic school my parents sent me to in the hopes that their ‘bright’ son would flourish academically, but when weed and skateboarding came into the picture that hope fell out the window, and so I moved to the derelict high school I mentioned in the story. And the rest, as they say, is history :)
Perfect! I feel like I've found my tribe! If I had any sense of balance I'd go and discover skateboarding. But mostly I recognise that I get on well with people who have an extensive vocabulary and still choose to say 'fuck' a lot.
You are what I call an honorary skateboarder in that you have the attitude and the heart you just don’t do it. And trust me after the age of like 25 doing it, is kinda rough anyway — it hurts too much!
YES! There have been people who’ve asked me, “why do you write or say fuck so much?”
And I honestly don’t even know how to answer them, like, if that is the question you’re asking me, then we just live in different worlds. Hahaha
Also, you’re so much fun, I’m more than happy for you to be a free stalker (subscriber) for life :)
Thanks homie. However, if I get reinstated to 'the will' at the last moment then you will be rewarded for your extreme patience!
Hahaha alright good to know.
Well here’s hoping you do for both our sakes ;)
Don't be too keen to be(come) adult ME ... I'm 70 years old now/soon and being young and foolish is my only redeeming feature ... Frank Sinatra sang "Don't you know that it's worth
every treasure on earth to be young at heart" ❤️ better replace the Bonsai though .. good karma
Yes yes, I agree whole-heartedly Emmett. Luckily for me, still going out and playing around on my childhood toy (my skateboard) seems to keep young at heart (even if it makes my joints ache like an old man haha).
What a lovely post, Michael. I think all of us are still trying this adulting thing.
Thank you, Priya. I really appreciate that.
And I know, right?! This adulting thing is tough haha :)