Something Useful for 2019 - Exercise No. 29
They aren't of choices I made that changed my life forever.
They're rarely connected with anything that is newsworthy.
Now I think of it, they probably wouldn't impress anyone other than the person I was in that moment.
One such memory instantly pulls me back into the mind and heart of my younger self.
I was six years old. I had three friends - A, A and J. Being an only child with parents who had kept me to themselves in the years running up to school, A, A and J were my first real friends. I trusted them completely, as six year olds do, and as such played with a joyful abandon at whatever imaginary game we chose.
Sometimes, we would play characters from our favourite TV show - Alias Smith and Jones, a Western TV series about two cowboys on the run from the law. A and J would play the named characters. The other A would generally play a girl character. I would be a horse or a puma.
My memory though, and the brightest memory from that time, is when we charged around the playground one day, screaming at the top of our lungs "Crazy horses, raaaar, raaar..." It's a song by the Osmonds. I don't think any of us knew the other lyrics. We just galloped around, singing that line over and over again, and occasionally neighing and throwing our heads around as if we had a mane.
Thinking back to that makes me smile. I can feel the tarmac surface under my buckled shoes as I race around with the others, and I can feel the giddiness in my chest as I sing.
So here's your writing exercise. Think back to your childhood, or teens, and find a song that you can connect with one of those brightly coloured memories.
Remember:
- how it felt
- what the weather was like
- what you heard
- what you smelt
Write your memory with as much vibrancy and emotion as you can.
Image courtesy of Lee Campbell on Unsplash.
Image courtesy of Lee Campbell on Unsplash.
It was a sunny summer day and I was 15. It seemed like the rest of the world was on holiday and here I was stuck on my own with my parents watching through the upstairs window as people got into their cars and drove away. The green opposite was unusually empty of girls doing handstands and riding bikes, and boys playing football. I felt abandoned. Not having any siblings I was used to amusing myself. I would often go into town alone, my own company sufficient for my needs. I travelled in my mind to the various futures I thought were possible for me, some more far fetched than the others. I took comfort in writing poetry, short stories, columns and endless letters to a friend who was spending the summer with her grandparents in Suffolk. I played so much music in the eighties and I associate Cruel Summer by Bananarama with this particular time. I think I took some perverse pleasure in my teenage angst. What makes me smile now is I knew how much I wanted to write. It has taken me till now to believe that the 15 year old with an imagination might actually achieve one of her dreams and see her name on a book she has written.
ReplyDeleteThat's a brilliant memory, Lisa. Not all of the vivid ones are happy. Loved that song growing up. Glad you got there in the end. :-)
DeleteThanks Fi .
ReplyDelete