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Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Best Kind of Day

You can go back to your childhood for one day. What day and age do you choose?

 To quote Joyce Summers, "My, that's a terrible thought."

 I pick a day in mid-spring the year I was 4. It's before the awful started. Before I knew to be afraid. Before I knew bad things could happen to me.
I am at my grandparents' house. I stay with my great-grandmother while everyone else is at work. She has chores to do, but she includes me in all of them. We bake biscuits together. She lets me have my own lump of dough to roll out all by myself. I sneak little bites of the dough. We place biscuits on the little black baking sheets, and I play with my doll while Nur gets the rest of our meal ready.

 Later we will wash clothes and hang them on the line to dry. We'll take a walk through the back field and go home to pull off the briars that have stuck to my socks. Maybe we'll play Old Maid. But through it all, I will hum and sing and smile and dance, because I know I am loved. I know I am safe, because nothing bad has ever happened to me.

 Emily Webb in "Our Town", after she has died, asks to go back for just one day. Mrs. Gibbs says, "No!—At least, choose an unimportant day. Choose the least important day in your life. It will be important enough." Emily chooses her 12th birthday, but she can't bear it, saying, "All that was going on in life and we never noticed."

So I choose an unimportant day. A day when life was so normal. The best kind of day to remember.

 linking up with Writer's Workshop
Posted by Melanie at 8:16 AM
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9 comments:

  1. Maria The MumMarch 12, 2015 at 9:14 AM

    I'm glad you have a happy day to remember...and such a lovely memory at that!

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  2. SusanMarch 12, 2015 at 9:15 AM

    I love your grandma and the innocence that you knew on THAT day. xo

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  3. KimberlyMarch 12, 2015 at 11:50 AM

    This is wild - because the memory that I chose for this prompt is almost exactly the same. My grandma. She was my safe. This week rocked me to my core and all I could think of was her and how I she made everything better.
    Hold on to that day and those memories of her. I know that you cherish them with all that you have because I do. Much love and strength to you xoxo

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  4. blestbutstrestMarch 12, 2015 at 11:53 AM

    What a cool memory to go back to and what a fun exercise. I love your your great-grandma involved you in everything :).

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  5. KatBouskaMarch 12, 2015 at 12:35 PM

    I love this! And I agree, I often think back about how carefree and normal life was before I had the experience of losing a parent. I want to be that little girl again for just a second!

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  6. UnknownMarch 12, 2015 at 1:47 PM

    Wow, there is such depth there. It has really been on my heart lately that I let so much of life slip by.

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  7. ZionMarch 12, 2015 at 9:51 PM

    FOUR huh? I don't even remember being four. I recently read a book called "The Woman Who Can't Forget" and she vividly remembers her entire life from a pretty young age. It was fascinating.

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  8. UnknownMarch 13, 2015 at 9:34 AM

    What a happy memory. Thanks for sharing a peak inside of your past.
    I agree, I don't really remember much from when I was that young it seems your great grandmother made a lasting impact

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  9. UnknownMarch 15, 2015 at 8:33 AM

    Such a lovely day and a lovely memory. It's so true - the ordinary days are where the quiet love lives.

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