Thursday, August 18, 2011

Writing Me: Where I'm From - Now

On Tuesday, I posted something called "Writing Me: Where I'm From." This is a meme in which writers reflect on their childhoods. My post expressed a lot of sadness and made some readers cry. One reader suggested I also write about where I am from now. What a magnificent suggestion. Here we go.

I am from a walking town and where are my glasses. I am from an old house, the two tomcats and a puggle.

I am from the carpool. I am from one parish and from another one. I am from the front porch dinner and I am from the Target parking lot. I am from the swim club. I am from School of Community.

I am from 18 years of a loving marriage. I am from desire and I am from satisfaction. I am from infertility and from not being able to look at other people's babies. I am from two miscarriages. I am from two nine-pound-plus babies. I am from the double brass bed I've had since high school. I am from renewing vows.
I am from the breast pump at the neonatal intensive care unit and from bagpipes at the baptism. I am from let's order Chinese. I am from Goodnight, Moon, Mother Goose and Simon and Garfunkel. I am from the double stroller at the bus stop. I am from Sunday Mass, toward the back, usually the left-hand side.

I am from leaving the 68th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. I am from people are happy because Daddy is alive. I am from getting through instead of over. I am from prayer, from fear, from gratitude, from therapy and from living vows.

I am from the sledding hill at the factory.  I am from the front yard's wooden swing and the back patio's basketball hoop. I am from the chocolate factory around the corner. I am from playgroup. I am from what's the difference between soccer and baseball cleats. I am from the chamber music orchestra and high school jazz band. I am from get off the computer now and I am from is Daddy giving you boys handsome lessons. I am from the child-study team meeting.

I am from working at home. I am from working from home. I am from the community college faculty and I am from the unemployment checks. I am from graduate school in special education. I am from a large public high school. I am from the teachers' union. I am from several second-floor classrooms. I am from praying the Rosary. I am from the child-study team.

I am from the Book of Hours, Mark Twain and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am from date night at the diner, from Billy Wilder movies on the wide screen and from supermarket roses. I am from laughter and I am from forgiveness.

I am from Beauty, from a Presence who summoned me into being from nothingness.



7 comments:

  1. This is the perfect compliment to your prior post. Love this!

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  2. Thanks for sharing both posts with us.

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  3. Nice,were are any of us from.
    Were are they from? or Who are they belonging too? is the first thing a lot of people in this part of Wales say as soon as an unknown person is mentioned, this will be followed by a (sometimes very) long and complicated explanation involving comparing Grandparents and often nicknames.In the small Valley Village were I used to live it was the single most common phrase I heard apart from "How be butt" the usual greeting.
    Of course if you couldn't supply at least 90% local (and that meant less than 1/2 mile)antecedents you would be a foreigner for ever. Strange in a village that had only existed since 1845 !None of us qualified as local.

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  4. Beautiful, both poems. I love the difference between them, and how that difference reflects your life.

    http://maplegrove.blogspot.com/2006/07/morning-commute.html

    I did a "I am from" poem 5 years ago and your posts prompted me to look for it.

    Blessings,

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  5. That's beautiful. This is an interesting exercise. I don't think I could do it without writing a whole book. Wait a minute, I did write a book....

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