3.9.23
The sun is out again.
Last night, weird dreams. I dreamt that my mother had asked that I stop by and pick up some old photographs. I guess I didn’t get there quickly enough because she ended up sending them to me via e-mail or somehow via the computer, which is funny because she is pretty much a luddite.
There were photos of me as a child. Photos I’d never seen and I doubt exist but in dreams everything is hyper-real. There was even a video of me and I was excited to be able to hear my voice as a child, but when I tried to raise the volume, it didn’t work. I was never able to hear my voice and either I woke for a moment or the dream flipped a page. Perhaps that was as far as my imagination could go? It could not call a voice from the past not even a false one?
Then I was thinking this morning in my drowsiness about those prompts that ask you to write a letter to your younger self or yourself at 15 or high school, or you get the picture. I’ve never done one of those. I am not sure if I’ve even tried? I don’t know that I want to talk to my former self in a letter? Maybe because I address her by being grateful or thankful for what I have now. A present that I never thought was in my cards? Happiness, love, a space/time to write. Peace? I also think I speak to my former self in the pieces I write now.
Scars are lines, don’t you know? Wounds are memories. Experience is literature.
Nope. Will not be writing a letter to my former self anytime soon I think but what about writing a letter to someone from your past? A missed connection? (I think that was section in the Chicago Reader.) Maybe there is someone who unwittingly helped you? Be it by a kind deed or kind words. Maybe it was a stranger who smiled at you when you needed it? A teacher who encouraged you. A neighbor that you wish you’d had reached out to because they seemed like they would have been a good friend or because you didn’t call the police that one time when you heard yelling and loud noises but didn’t want to get involved? Maybe a friend that you’ve lost contact with because— distance or life?
Prompt: Write that letter!
Wanted to add a thanks you to The Art of Flash Fiction for recommending my Substack!
Also, I’ve been remiss in referring The Sample, which has been helpful to me with sharing my newsletter. They will send one article from a random blog or newsletter that matches up with your interests, and you can subscribe if you wish. Check them out!