Literary Reflections Writing Prompt

Literary Reflections is pleased to present our featured writing prompt response from November. Earlier this month, we asked, “How do you capture the moments of your life? How do you keep memories alive? Write about one specific event from the past year you hope your children will remember.

Linda Maria Steele wrote:

I place a photograph on the mantle in the living room above the fireplace to remind the girls and I of the total blast we had on our summer vacation last year. It’s a 4×6 vertical image of Sophia on a teacup ride. Her eyes have a bit of a sparkle and her wide smile says it all-bliss. Next to that is a photograph of both of my girls standing tall in front of the Magic Castle.

I took my daughters Bella, 14 and Sophia, 6 to Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida while my husband and 15 year old son were away on their own male bonding adventure to a National Basketball Tournament in Indiana. It was the first time we traveled anywhere alone.

The girls and I flew south from Boston’s Logan Airport and spent a few days at the Buena Vista Palace Resort and Spa in Orlando. We easily fell into a comfortable groove. We covered lots of sight-seeing territory until late each day and enjoyed relaxing back at the hotel pool at night. We were compatible travelers and it made the trip all the more enjoyable and memorable.

We took the shuttle back and forth each day to the parks while spending our nights around the Hotel Pool eating hot pizza and drinking fresh squeezed lemonade chatting about our favorite sights of that day.

While drifting off into slumber we giggled about how much Bella screamed on the super fast Test Track ride or how her cell phone flew off as we spun around the corners. We joked about using the ‘Mickey Phone’ in the Epcot Center office. We chatted about what a good sport Sophia was as she walked from one side of the park to the other with her little legs and loving every minute of it.

As the plane reached elevation as we headed north there was a peace between us and a renewed connection. We were sad to leave yet so grateful for the brief joy shared. As we flew home Sophia rested her head on my arm and slept. Bella listened to her IPod daydreaming out the window.

Words weren’t needed because our hearts shared what mattered most. I looked out the window passed the wing of the plane out into the clouds and sent a silent prayer. “Dear God, please help the girls remember this trip forever”. And it was then that I imagined us on a gathering 30 years or so in the future. I could see myself with wrinkled old lady skin turning frail, my hair grayed but my girls still young-their lives full of possibility. The same two pictures still rested on the mantle.

In the meantime what gives life to this precious memory beyond those photographs are the nights between now and then when I sit with Sophia in her bed. She holds her stuffed Mickey Mouse and asks with such sweetness, “Mom, can we live at Disney?”

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Linda can be reached at www(dot)westfalmouthbakingcompany(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

A new Literary Reflections writing prompt is published the first weekend of every month. Responses are accepted until the 15th, and I promise to comment shortly after that. Look for it – we’d love to hear from you.