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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Escape (01/02/06)
It’s 1:43 Wednesday morning. I awakened having fallen asleep, with Sunshine, before putting away the leftover’s from dinner and before washing the make-up from my face. Forty-nine years old and I’m fighting acne. Yes acne; don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, at least not tonight. Guess I’m grateful that I did not have to deal with this as a teenager when undoubtedly it would have been more devastating. I mean getting a boyfriend was difficult enough.

In bed awake, unable to return to sleep, my thoughts returned to hours earlier in the night. Thinking of you while cradling Sunshine in my arms, there was a familiar comfort that came over me. We fell asleep. A few minutes earlier, Sunshine had skipped into the rear bedroom where I was doing some research for work, “What is the Spanish speaking population in the county and is there a need for a bilingual counselor,” and asked if she could sleep with me. This seems to be a nightly question. Of course I said yes, as I do most times when asked. Sunshine jumped for joy exclaiming loudly, yes! Soon after I heard a call from the bedroom, “Gamps, when are you coming?” It was about 8:30 and I wasn’t the least bit ready for sleep, but, I was summoned, and I obeyed. I ask myself, who is the boss of whom. What power she has over me, I thought to myself,with laughter in my heart.

As I lay there next to Sunshine, she placed one leg over my leg, as if to insure that I would stay put. This made me smile as well. In less than ten minutes she was snoring, yes snoring, and again, you got it, I smiled. Oh how love calms the spirit like nothing else. The next thing I knew it was 1:43 in the morning. I’d done what I hadn’t intended to do, fallen asleep. Oh how love calms the spirit like nothing else. I peeled Sunshine’s leg from around me, got up and managed to find my way down stairs then back up stairs where I put a little water on my face. You know me; a little dab will do ya! Guess I can’t be totally like you. Having put away the food and having washed my face and climbed back in bed to again be anchored by Sunshine, my thoughts returned to you and those recent family pictures you shared with us when we visited with you, last week-end. To my mind came a picture I had seen many years past yet the image remained clearly etched in my mind, I suppose to be recalled at this very moment. You were kneeling and my head rested in your lap. I was three or four years old. Your face held a gentle smile and I had obviously been sobbing from my appearance. It was clear you were not the least bit bothered by my rainfall of tears. There have been many rainfalls and storms in my life over the years. There were times I thought my belly would never cease to ache. I did not wished to worry you with my sorrows and fears so instead, I found refuge in the thought of you, as I imagine Sunshine does when she anchors herself to me. In my mind's eye I have often traveled to that secret place where I would rest my head in your lap, and feel your hand on my face, loving me ever so gently. It is a place where I can run to, even today. A secret place where I can rest until I am strong enough to return to now.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jeffrey Snell
01/11/06
Nice reminiscence. Careful of sentence structure and paragraph breaks--kind of distracting from what's being written. Good job slowly revealing who the "you" in the story is.
Sandra Petersen
01/12/06
At first, I didn't know if Sunshine was that which streams through the window or a person. By the second paragraph, I knew.
This sounds like a journal. I especially liked these lines: "As I lay there next to Sunshine, she placed one leg over my leg, as if to insure that I would stay put.", "Oh how love calms the spirit like nothing else.", "There have been many rainfalls and storms in my life over the years. There were times I thought my belly would never cease to ache."
I was a little confused by who the 'you' was you were remembering in the concluding paragraph. At one point I thought it was the Lord, then again when you wrote about the pictures that were left with you the past weekend, I reasoned it had to be a relative (mother, grandmother?) Sunshine is a granddaughter, so how could it be a grandmother? Anyway, you have some beautiful ideas woven in this article.