Key

This key is more than just a silly little skeleton key. It is actually a bottle opener.  It was given to me by a friend in high school and reminds me of those parties I would go to where all my friends would drink and smoke, and yet I never did. It reminds me of how while they were smuggling alcohol in their backpacks to the party, I was smuggling my Nintendo 64 so we could play Super Smash Brothers or Mario Kart after they had smoked a bowl or had a shot. One of those friends gave me this key.  Actually, now that I think about it, I might have stolen it from him, but I'm sure he didn't mind or he would have gotten it back.

Later my senior year I let another friend of mine borrow the key, though I’m not sure what for, since he didn’t drink or smoke. He was part of a different group of friends, a nerdier group, but I still loved being with that group. I had known this particular friend since preschool and the whole group of us had been on soccer teams together since elementary school. This same friend would later come out of the closet while I was on my mission, a big surprise to me.

Many people see my bottle opener and assume I have or do drink. Perhaps it’s because I'm liberal when it comes to talking about these things, especially compared to the Mormons here. But they are wrong to judge so swiftly. I have never drank. That's not to say I never will; I'm no clairvoyant. Maybe the constant judgments from Mormons will lead me to the bottle. Perhaps a little dramatic, but not implausible. To me this key is a token of better days.