Post #81 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing Prompt – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
MEMOIR WRITING PROMPT: What Happens When You Turn Your Back Heedlessly?
Last week, my partner and I took off for the Oregon coast on a mini writing vacation. We found an inexpensive hotel right on the beach in Newport. We even easily solved the need for two writing surfaces. Our Honda CRV has a card table tucked away under the floor mat of the back deck. This was a feature of the car that we’d never used. But this was the time to take advantage of it as the one round table provided in the room was just too small for our two computers…memoir writing is never far removed.
Of course, you can’t have a memoir writing vacation next to the beach without taking a long beach walk. And that we did. My partner took pictures of me and I took pictures of him. But before we walked back to our room (up 96 steps, by the way), we wanted to make sure we had at least a few good keepsake photos.
About right now you can probably guess what happened. In order to view the little two-inch LCD camera screen, we turned our backs to the ocean. An ocean, by the way, which was about 20 feet out from us at that moment. Somewhere in the middle of laughing about some of the shots and trying to see if we got the lighthouse in the background of any, the surf silently crept up on us. We found ourselves suddenly standing in 6 inches of swirling water soaking our shoes and clothes. Actually, it brought on peals of laughter from both of us. You would think at this age we would know better than to turn our back on the ocean, again.
Actually, we have probably all had times when we turned our backs on life situations. Maybe we turned our backs by walking away from either a potentially good or a potentially bad situation. Maybe we turned our backs on friends when they needed us. Maybe we turned our backs by ignoring situations when we should have paid close attention.
Rarely are any of these situations pleasant memories. But by turning around now — by looking at these situations — we can gain insights into how we react. It can help us face situations in the future that we might have turned our backs on in the past.
Yes, I’ll even try to remember to not turn my back on the ocean.
But that isn’t the end of this story.
The next morning, we were back working on our computers around 7 am. I was going to do a quick Internet search when I saw on Google’s home page that there had been an earthquake in Japan. Since we have just moved from California, we are still extra sensitive to news about earthquakes. I began reading the message on the home page that said tsunami warnings were in effect for Indonesia, … Hawaii, California and Oregon.
“Bill, there’s a tsunami warning in effect here.”
Of course, we both looked out the window. It didn’t look like water was being sucked out but we thought we’d better turn on the television. By the time that we found a local channel, it was 7:25 am. The news announcer said, “And here in Newport, the tsunami is expected at 7:26 am.” We again looked out the window. It looked all right to us. About then, the announcer said, “Of course, that is just an estimate. It could come earlier or later.”
We decided to be prudent. We didn’t want to give up our writing morning, but decided we could go out to breakfast. So we packed up our computers, and headed out in the car, looking for a place to eat. As we climbed higher in Newport, we saw a diner that we knew had good reviews. Then as we turned the corner, we saw the sign that the owner had put up a couple of hours earlier. Yes, we ate breakfast there.
Fortunately for us, no tsunami waves hit as far north as Newport although other places along the Oregon coast did have some damage. Our local harbor in Santa Cruz, where we spent time during our years in California, had considerable damage.
So our funny experience on the beach, less than 24 hours before, could have been serious, even deadly. We feel fortunate, and of course, concerned for the families in Japan. And it’s another chapter for the memoir. And, yes, I did find a memoir writing prompt in all this.
MEMOIR WRITING PROMPT: What Happens When You Turn Your Back Heedlessly?
1. Write for 10 minutes about a time when you knowingly turned your back on a situation or person. Provide as much detail as possible. This may not be a fun topic to write about, but do it anyway.
2. Then rewrite. This time write about the situation as if you had faced it. How might it have turned out differently?
3. Either think about, or write about, your insights from this prompt. Do you have new insights into why you did what you did? Have you gained a strength or insight that will help you behave differently next time?
Join me next week for a lighter writing prompt.
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