Through the Ages

The One With The Birthday

The day, April 4, 2020, Emma Geller-Green's eighteenth birthday. This day had finally arrived. The plan was to have a simple party by going to a movie; that sort of thing. After her mother's big birthday hoopla breakfast, Emma drove to school eagerly waiting the time for cake. After school, a group of her closest friends went with her to go see The Lovebirds, a movie about a couple in a midst of a breakup while being involved in a murder mystery. Emma was not the type of girl to want to see these kinds of movies with the whole couple shebang and all, it was more the mystery that intrigued her and after all, her friends were wanting to see the movie too.
After all her guests left for the night, her mom sat down next to her and exclaimed, "Hmm... I wonder what we could do now?" Her father then came strolling into the living room, his eyes on the brink of excitement, "Hmm... good question. I know what we could do!" In goes the old bulky VCR tape recording of Emma's first birthday into the TV. Emma rolls her eyes and laughs as she sees all of her aunts, uncles, and relatives on film. Although she pretends to be annoyed, the occasional giggle slips out of her mouth.
     After the video ends and all snide comments have been stated, Rachel, bouncing with excitement, comes back with Emma's favorite cake, chocolate mousse cake.  She must know something is bothering her daughter as she only eats one and a half slices. She asks Emma questions, but they just roll off of her in silence, which is eventually broken after Emma confesses about what is preoccupying her mind.
    That same day, Emma's teacher gave her class the writing prompt for their next big assignment, which consists of a large essay and video illustrating, "What makes you who you are?" or "What do you come from?" The teacher wants her students to "dig deeper into their childhoods to see how their family helped shape them into who they are today." Emma explained that her teacher also wants her class to discover their parents' pasts in order to help connect better before everyone leaves for college or to pursue other careers.

Emma was what neither of her parents were expecting. She did not enjoy shopping or the fashion industry like her mother Rachel, although she could pull off anything she wore. She was not interested in Paleontology either, to her mother's relief, even after all of the dinosaur toys she had while growing up. However, when she was younger she enjoyed questioning her father about his work and dinosaurs to the extent where she would be called an "interrogator," or whatever that meant. Emma had neither of her parents passions or exact talents. She was a writer--a pretty good one I might say. She won multiple awards at her school's writing contest and was featured in a local newspaper.
     Although her parents were disappointed that Emma did not pursue their own careers, they were quite proud of their daughter. In Emma's opinion, Ross and Rachel were supportive in their own ways but never completely understood her passion for writing. However, after watching the recording from her first birthday party, Emma finally had a great idea of something to do! She would talk to her parents' old friends from the video, Uncle Joey, Uncle Chandler, Aunt Monica, and Aunt Phoebe to see if they could help her with her assignment! This will help her avoid the awkward conversations with her parents! Now the only question is, will they all be able to make time for her?