Making a Memory | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Making a Memory | Previous Challenge Entry
By darlene thompson
06/05/13
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When the university semester ended, I came home to spend time with my mother. My father had died the previous December and Mom wanted to do something special.

One of the things on her list was a picnic to Dolly Sods. This was an event she had shared with my father. Dolly Sods is a wilderness in West Virginia. A view from the top seems to go for miles. Dolly Sods has been compared to the tundra of Canada. Large limestone and sandstone formations grace the area. The temperature is cool even in the summertime. Rhododendron and mountain laurel color the mountainside. Emerald draped valleys lie below. Huckleberry bushes hang with blue glory. I grabbed a handful of berries. Soon my chin and fingers were purple with juice. I filled a pail knowing my mother would turn the berries into gourmet pies and cobblers.
At a nearby picnic table, we devoured potato salad, slaw, baked beans, chicken and chocolate chip cookies. Nearby a stream sang gentle melodies. The cardinals, robins, and sparrows offered up their symphony. Overhead, the piercing call of the red-tail hawk split the air.
As we talked, I heard a hiss. I walked toward the sound and discovered a tire was leaking air. I yelled to my Mom, "Let's go--we got a tire going flat!" Together, we tossed the remaining food and picnic equipment into the car. It was going to be close if we would make it. I drove as fast as I could along the curvy mountain roads. My mother's face winced with the thought of being stranded. We flew around the curves spinning dirt and rocks behind us. As we hit the main road, the hiss grew louder. I accelerated and pulled into a nearby gas station--just in time to hear a thump. The tire was flat. Soon an attendant fixed the tire and we headed home. Somehow, I couldn't help but smile. Dad would have been proud of us. Even better, my Mom and I had made our own adventure in Dolly Sods!

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