Post #112 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Memoir Writing Prompt Recalls Favorite Memory
Recently, Kendra and I sent an email to our blog subscribers asking how they learned about our website. We heard from many of you and appreciate the time you spent getting back to us. We received some fabulous responses and enjoyed them all.
A few people attached a piece of writing they had done based on inspiration from our website. Here’s one we thought we’d publish — written after reading one of our writing prompts.
Thanks Linda for sharing this and for giving us permission to publish it.
My Favorite Memory
by Linda Greeley
In 1966 I was teaching third grade at Cathedral School in Duluth, Minnesota, while Dan interned at St. Mary’s Hospital. During this very busy year we existed on parallel tracks: teaching and practicing medicine with brief intersecting moments. With a husband who often worked every other night and every third weekend there were challenges.
We really wanted a baby to fill out our little family of two. Undergoing diagnosis and treatment for infertility caused emotional pain which, coupled with our hectic schedules, seemed to color our daily experiences. I became hopeful each month, but dropped into despair when I hadn’t conceived.
One cold January day I made a quick phone call during my school lunch hour to Dan at the hospital, hoping this month would turn around our luck.
“Yes!” That was all I could hear him say. My knees buckled and I sat down on the closest chair. My heart hammered. My hands started to sweat.
“Are you sure?” I needed Dan to reassure me that the pregnancy test had come back positive.
I fairly floated through the rest of the day. That little secret was the sweetest gift I had ever received. After all of our difficulties, we would become parents. The coldest January weather in Duluth couldn’t freeze my joyful emotions. I could feel my smile pasted firmly on my face the rest of the day. Dan was on-call that night so I met him at the hospital to share dinner. His eyes conveyed to me that he felt as excited by our future as I did. We tried to hold our secret between us, but internship was not kind to secret keeping. It was a tight group of twelve interns and their families. We all lived in the same apartment complex. Knowing smiles followed me in our apartment building before we publicly owned up to my pregnancy.
My contract at Cathedral specified that I could not teach beyond my third month of pregnancy, but when I shared my condition with them, they allowed me to stay until the end of the year, my fifth month. Teaching consumed many hours, but during the rest of the time I daydreamed about our little baby. Would we have a boy or girl? Where would we be living when this child was born? Would Dan get an exemption from serving in the armed forces until his residency was complete? Would he be sent to Viet Nam and leave me to give birth alone?
Despite the unknowns I remained excited and hopeful for the future. I started to feel more like the others in our complex who had children. I was no longer an outsider. We would soon be parents. Our lives would forever be changed for the better.
Writing Prompt
1. Use today to write about your favorite memory. Who does it involve? Describe the people so that they become three-dimensional characters. Let them help you tell the memory.
Have fun. Write for 15 minutes. You are the story teller for this treasured memory. Use this quick writing prompt to increase your focus on storytelling for family and friends.
