February 18, 2019:
In all these childhood Instamatic pictures, there are almost none of adults. They're of neighborhood kids — my friends. My cats. A handful of places. Friends and cats, my two loves, plus the places where they're found.
That lack of adults is telling. There really were no adults in my life who mattered. There are a few of my mom, but, no other family, no neighbors, no teachers. It's an adult-free universe, which you can rightly interpret as both wish-fulfillment and signpost of reality.