Scenes from My Life On Hemlock Street: A Brooklyn Memoir by Arlene Mandell
Resolutions Made and Broken
Arlene's Sweet Sixteen Party, 1957
The original list of New Year’s Resolutions was pasted into the back of a photo album. I wrote it when I was a senior in high school and never really intended to keep all the resolutions, but am proud to say I have kept #6.*
1. |
I will sew buttons on as soon as they fall off. |
2. |
I will wear lipstick whenever I leave the house. |
3. |
I will start every day off by grinning in the mirror. |
4. |
I will gossip a little less maliciously with Ruth. |
5. |
I will always walk with my head up and not wiggle so much. |
6. |
I will not light a cigarette if I don’t really want it. |
7. |
I will not tease boys (especially ones over 18). |
8. |
I will not fall into bed without brushing my hair and teeth, no matter what time it is. |
9. |
I will not pay for dates with kisses. |
10. |
I will not go out with icky boys, ever! |
*Author’s note: After I dropped a lighted cigarette on my blue silk organza prom dress and burned a hole in it, I never smoked another cigarette.
© Arlene Mandell, 2009
| Go to SCENES: Welcome to Hemlock Street • Block Party • Building the Ferris Wheel • Crossing Pitkin Avenue • The Kiss • Invisible Baby • Aunt Minnie's Second Wedding • Murder Inc. • A Real Italian Dinner • Sleeping with Nettie Sachs • Duke Snider Breaks Our Hearts • Cherries in the Snow • My Thirteenth Spring • No Room of My Own • Deeply in Love • Hangin' Out and Makin' Out • Resolutions Made and Broken |