From a writing prompt given to us by wonderful actress, memoirist, and human being, Dinah Lenney today ( I love my teachers, hurray!):
Someone I love just picked up my hot baby from her crying, pulled her to him and told her, "It's okay, Babe, you're okay."
Someone I love just wiped away her snot, and again, later, gave her the tissue box: "That's right. Toot it out!" Someone I love gave her the toast she threw away, then the yogurt she didn't touch, then everything she asked for that she then left on the mocking plate.
Someone I love took her to the doctor, just to be sure, then someone I love made animals from colored shapes, played games, bought movies for the 'nothing else will work' times.
Someone I love took the breath he needed so he could tell her brother, for the tenth time, "Leave your sister alone!" Then someone I love took that little boy by the hand and told him, though he was ragged from the ice-long days, "You're my favorite boy on earth."
Someone I love gave the phone to that boy so he could speak to his mother, miles away now, days away, so he could say to her, alone in her room, quietly childless, "In my heart I know who you are, and I love you."
Then someone I love told me to enjoy myself -- weary songstress, between her coughs, she told me, "We're okay. We're doing fine. We'll rest tomorrow."
This is dedicated to all those someones. You are the pillars of my dream.
And to all my writer friends out there, listen to the good advice of my beloved: "Toot it out!" Just get out your pen and toot it out!
Beautiful, as always.
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