Week 7 Prompts

30. Take a look at a photo of a person. What do you see?

I look at the photos on the wall. It took me forever to hang them. A jumble of a-symmetric, different sized frames that are placed so strategically, they look symmetric. I hope we never move. My eyes move from frame to frame until I come across a photo of my son, Jack. It is one of the only colored photos on the wall. This allows for full appreciation of his vibrantly red hair. The only one in the family to have it, though you wouldn't be able to tell from the black and whites that surround him. You can however, define his fair Irish skin. Again, the only one in the family to have it. I wonder if he will have freckles as well.
I see the smile that lights up the room. This smile really is indicative of his personality. He doesn't have a care in the world. He almost never cries, and when he does, he is soothed easily. Recently I tried eliminating one of his feeding times during the night. I attempted this with my older son, but he just cried until I gave in. But Jack, he's a saint. The first night, he awoke ready to eat, and it took a mere five minutes to convince him he was tired instead of hungry. His face was saying, 'Okay mom, I suppose I will sleep now, but when I wake up again, you'd better be ready to feed me. Is that okay?' As his eyes were at half-mast, slowly closing as he fell asleep.
The photo was taken when his eyes were completely blue, but now they are changing. They now have specks of hazel around the pupil. I wonder if they will change completely. Even without the hazel they aren't the same eyes that look up at me now. They are missing something here. In fact, I have never seen him look at anyone else the way he looks at me. It's the bond between us that is unrivaled. I can just tell that I am the apple of his eye. This probably is due to the fact that nobody else can feed him but me. I'm his lifeline. But that will soon change, so for now, I'm drinking it in. You can't capture that on film.

31. Who's the first person you remember?

My mother has the craziest curly hair. They're not really even curls, just a pile of frizz on top of her head. Many of my childhood memories include looking at that frizzy hair from the back seat. She always sang to me in the car on the way to preschool. She was a preschool teacher and brought me along everyday. I was in preschool for like 5 years. Anyway, she would sing in the car songs like 'You are my sunshine', 'Wheels on the bus', 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'. She doesn't have a great voice, but that doesn't bother her. And it didn't bother me. If she tried singing to me now we may have a problem.
My favorite of all was 'Take me out to the ball game.' I would make her sing it over and over. Enough to drive a person crazy. But not her. Patience is her thing. Working with children, it has to be. But her's surpasses anyone I've met. I worked with her once a few years ago and a toddler came up and smacked her right across the face with a book. No warning, just really wanted to read I guess. My mom didn't even skip a beat. She said 'Oh, 'Child' (I forgot his name now), would you like to read? You need to hand me the book gently and say, 'read please'. Why don't you try it again.'
Her endearing tone instantly changed the toddlers face from a scowl to a smile and he handed her the book, and said in his little toddler voice, 'Read me please'.
I'm sure other people with a book slapped across their face may react differently. I might have too in the past, but now I have my own children and I find myself reflecting my mother's patience and nurturing quality everyday. When my son is faced with a conflict, I try to give him a balance of guidance and independence as she did with me.


34. Check out Carolyn See Locator of Lost Persons --those short, very evocative, mysterious, and poetic grafs. Try a few of those!

Julia Cooper. *Jables*. Are you still living above that convenience store? Are you still with that same ol' guy? The last time I saw you, we were playing a video game online with some teenage boy in Tennessee. We had cheesy names that we thought were clever. You were so kind to let me stay at your house. Are you still playing? I miss you. -MiSs*G*vIoUs

Amber Baird. It's been too long. Last I heard, you were in Germany. Traveling was always on your life list of things to do. Have you crossed off anything else on your list? You used to drive that light blue Honda Civic, it was a hatchback. We spent many nights sleeping in it with the seats folded down with a fire and Sublime music somewhere in the background.

Cynthia Meade. We used to drink Grey Goose and go on mysterious four-wheeler rides. You were always there for me, though I wasn't always there for you. I remember hanging out at 'The Shack'. You were always wearing Carhartt and work boots with a dirty baseball hat. The same dirty Red Sox baseball hat. Where are you now?