It's been a while.
I. Know.
To get back in the proverbial saddle I am doing a post using a writing prompt from the ever popular and always insanely witty Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.
This is the template ( fill in the blanks style) from the SITS Girls- masterminds behind Bloggy Bootcamp- the one I did not get to go to...
So Here Goes! (pssst- it's a lot harder than it looks!)
I am from metal clamp on roller skates that never fit the
way they should, from Hostess HoHo's and Wonder Bread, tins of Charles potato
chips and Coca-Cola Dad traded for Twinkies with the Coke man around the
corner.
I am from the middle of the road, one-story oozing
Patriotism, of Soap Operas and the voices of Beau and Hope and the songs
of Sonny and Cher, the comedy of Laugh-In, where windows stay shut and curtains
are never opened.
I am from the New Dawn roses in the front garden, from the
lilies and crab apple tree that bloom out back in the Spring, from the land of weekend
lawn mowers and running through sprinklers and climbing trees with the boys
next door.
I am from Summer visits with Grams and Grand Dad, month
long family vacations and standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, from Black Irish and blue eyes, from Raymond
and Irma and Toy and Kate.
I am from quick tempers and long memories, from too many
brothers and not enough sisters, from being the middle child in a family
without one.
From Good, Better, Best... and Do Unto Others... and what
will the neighbors think...
I am from perfect attendance in Sunday school and
questioning the Old Testament and Adam and Eve and people who see you on Sunday
but see through you on Monday. Finding a way to find my way again.
I’m from the East Coast by way of Pennsylvania and Ohio and
Poland and Germany and Ireland, sauerkraut and pierogis and golabki and Whoopie
Pie.
From the one-legged turtle that terrorized Grandpa and the
school where he worked, the way he could tell the story that had you convinced it
was coming for you too, and Uncle Joe shooing the rabbits out of the tomatoes
like Farmer Brown with the Flopsy Bunnies and the soporific properties of lettuce.
I am from vinyl photo albums with plastic sleeves instead
of pages, family portraits and graduation pictures hung over the fireplace,
family trees and genealogies written and published by Mom and favorite recipes
meticulously compiled for each child, grandchild and our foreign exchange sister
complete with family stories and pictures of ancestors long gone but not
forgotten. From keeping those who have gone ahead in our hearts and in our
lives through our children and their children and the generations to come.
I am from a past that is present and traditions that I make up as I go along, to parents who did the best they could in a world where change happened in the blink of an eye, where children grew up too fast and childhood was left behind far too soon.
I am from places and people that I will never know but who I am sure have always known me.
